By Adam Hocking

Editor

MARSHFIELD — As a result of an inquiry to the city of Marshfield, Hub City Times has confirmed that an architect has submitted an application for an interior finishing permit on behalf of Kohl’s department store. The application identifies the Marshfield Mall as the site.

The permit was submitted by architect Richard L. Bowen + Associates Inc., though Cheryl Uthmeier from the city’s building services department said that the application was incomplete.

A development agreement between the city and Malls4U, the mall ownership group, said the store will be close to 40,000 square feet, 25,000 of which will be an addition to the mall. The Marshfield Common Council approved that development agreement on Tuesday night.

Hub City Times previously reported that the new retail space was to have a value of no less than $5.9 million. However, the city’s Director of Development Services Jason Angell clarified by saying that once the Kohl’s addition is complete, the entire mall is to have an assessed value of about $5.9 million. Angell said the current mall has an assessed value of about $3.4 million, and the Kohl’s addition would have an assessed value of about $2.5 million.

The city is appropriating $500,000 to the project, anticipating that it will make its money back through property tax payments in 7-10 years, Angell said. If the assessed value falls short of $5.9 million, Malls4U will pay the city the difference for 10 years after completion of the project.

Bill Scholfield, the development broker for Malls4U, said there are still some loose ends to clear up before the deal to move Kohl’s into Marshfield is finalized.

“It’s not a done deal,” Scholfield said. “We still need to get the final paperwork done and meet critical time schedules.”

“We’re diligently working to get this project over the top, and it’s exciting news for the community and for all the tenants at the Marshfield Mall,” Scholfield said.

Angell said that Kohl’s has been a store for which the community has long clamored. He added that he did not believe the addition to the mall would compromise the city’s efforts to revitalize downtown.

“I look at the downtown area as it’s more niche oriented in that it’s mom-and-pop local businesses that are offering a unique product that isn’t offered in a national setting,” Angell said.

He added that he thinks Kohl’s will help revitalize the mall.

“It’s no secret to anybody in this community that the mall has struggled,” Angell said. “This type of development is one of those things that will bring more foot traffic into the area, and more foot traffic will hopefully not only benefit the new tenant but will benefit the existing tenants and help to attract other ones to come into that space or that area as well.”

The development agreement calls for completion of the project by Nov. 1 of this year.