By Adam Hocking

Editor

MARSHFIELD — A new, nearly 40,000-square-foot retail store will be coming to the Marshfield Mall, though the city would not release the name of the tenant at the request of the developer.

The Marshfield Common Council voted to approve an agreement with the developer Malls4U, and the new retail store should be completed by Nov. 1 of this year. The agreement refers to the new occupant as a “national retail tenant.”

“It’s a commercial facility, and it’s going to pay itself back in 10 years, and we want them to come here and grow,” said City Administrator Steve Barg.

Twenty-five thousand square feet of the new store will be an addition to the existing mall. The addition will be constructed on the southeast side of the current mall, according to Barg.

The city will pay $500,000 to the developer, and the developer will pay that amount back to the city through property taxes.

In the development agreement, the new retail space is to have a value of no less than $5.9 million so that the city is guaranteed the expected tax revenue from a property with such a value. If the tax revenue falls short of those expectations, the developer must pay the difference to the city. The city’s investment is to be paid back over a 10-year period.

The city will disperse the $500,000 in increments with $100,000 to be paid out after the foundation is completed, $250,000 “upon substantial completion of the building,” and $150,000 once the store is operational.