PINCKNEYVILLE – Pinckneyville city council members on Monday placed on file for public inspection several
measures that will allow McDaniel’s Furniture and Appliances, Inc., to relocate from its present site on the courthouse square to the building formerly occupied by the Illinois Fish Farmers Cooperative.
City commissioners in May gave their approval to the plan, which draws on funding from several sources, including Pinckneyville’s tax incremented financing (TIF) accounts. Economic developer Jeff Ashauer told the council on Monday that total cost for the project would reach $793,750.
The property, located east of town on State Route 154, would be divided into two 4-acre parcels. Under the current plan, the city would sell the eastern parcel to McDaniel’s. The business would acquire the existing 49,000-square foot building, which McDaniel’s would renovate into a one-story furniture and appliance store.
Estimated costs for redeveloping the building would total approximately $550,000, Ashauer said. Exterior work would include insulating and reroofing part of the building, replacing ceiling panels and adding heating/air conditioning systems for the store’s showroom. Inside work would include demolition and showroom construction, electrical system installation, office and bathroom construction, floor covers and painting.
The deal would benefit the city in several ways, Ashauer said, noting that the sale would help recapture some of the funds Pinckneyville still owes to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the loan that helped finance the fish farmers coop several years ago. Currently, Pinckneyville is in debt to the USDA to the tune of $100,776. The interest value of McDaniel’s loan would bring in $52,020, which–when applied to the USDA loan–would bring that debt down to $48,756.
“Within 2 1/2 years, we will be free of that original loss of $173,000,” Ashauer said, referring to the initial cost of fish farmers loan to the city. “Then, the city will gain an additional $256,700 in project maturity, plus we will have the value of the sale of real estate on the western side.”
As part of the agreement, McDaniel’s will lease the property on State Route 154 from the city for 40 months, purchasing the building from the city at the end of that time.
–Craig Shrum
