Business is booming in Muskogee — at least on Shawnee Bypass.
Shawnee Bypass to Walmart or Main Street and U.S. 69 is where the main interest is for big developers, said City Manager Greg Buckley.
The amount of traffic in that area is tremendous, with 21,436 vehicles passing between 11th and 15th Streets on Shawnee Bypass daily, according to the Oklahoma Department of Transportation.
“Most of our development contacts that are looking at Muskogee are focusing on the Shawnee corridor and along U.S. 69, by that intersection,” Buckley said.
And bringing in more business means bringing in more sales tax revenue for the city and more jobs for the people of Muskogee.
Jimmy’s Egg, a breakfast and lunch restaurant with 15 corporate locations and 12 franchise locations, will open a corporate-run restaurant here in mid-June on Shawnee Bypass where Starbucks was.
Jimmy’s Egg will seat 120, said one of the partners, Ban Nguyen.
They chose the location because of the growth on Shawnee Bypass. They were planning to expand and thought it was a good spot to do so, Nguyen said.
Jimmy Williams, owner of Trilogy Development in Edmond, owns the land where Jimmy’s Egg will expand. He said 1,500 square feet will be added to the Starbucks building.
Three more lots were purchased, so there will be sufficient parking, Williams said.
Williams also owns land across the street next to Tractor Supply. He has a 330-foot frontage and 25 acres behind that.
“We want to put two restaurants to the west of Tractor Supply and a hotel-restaurant development behind,” he said.
Williams said Trilogy is willing to be the landlord, but would sell the property. At one time, he owned the land where Tractor Supply is located.
“We just predicted future growth there,” Williams said.
Rickey Hayes with Retail Attractions, a retail development consulting firm, said he is working with officials in Muskogee to bring business.
“The attention of all the retail clients we work with is on Shawnee Bypass,” Hayes said. “There is good egress and ingress.”
Hayes is working with the city and Greater Muskogee Area Chamber of Commerce officials to attract business to Muskogee, Buckley said.
“It’s exciting. Muskogee is starting to become more and more of an interest of developers in the commercial realm,” Buckley said.
Walmart, Buffalo Wild Wings, Best Buy and other new retail establishments and restaurants on Shawnee Bypass pull in traffic from U.S. 69 and U.S. 62, as well as local traffic, city officials said. Businesses want to go where the people go, Hayes said.
“When Walmart relocated, a lot of secondary business developed with that,” Buckley said.
Muskogee Realtor Nick Fuller confirmed he has a client with a contract on about 25 acres on Shawnee Bypass at U.S. 69. But he can’t divulge the name of the prospective developer.
“Most of these people who come in and try to buy property don’t want it splashed in the newspaper,” Fuller said.
Sometimes such deals take months to develop — sometimes it’s years, Fuller said.
Hayes said that property in question is for development of something that could become a reality by 2012.
The city really has a vision to have well-planned growth in all parts of town, Hayes said.
“It started kind of happening back in 2007 like it is now — but then the economy got bad,” Hayes said. “We’re not out of the hole yet, but we’re not on the bottom of the hole.”
Because of the poor economy and heavy competition to snag new business, Muskogee may have to do more than be an attractive site to entice big business.
Large businesses often seek special incentives from the city, Buckley said.
A recent business the city entered into an incentive agreement with is IHOP.
“We helped put in a water line — but it was a dual benefit,” Buckley said. “That water line that goes to IHOP also opened up more of the area around it to development, making it much more attractive to developers and didn’t require any other public assistance.”
A Hilton Garden Inn is on tap south of IHOP and Fairfield Inn on U.S. 69, said City Planner Gary Garvin.
It is platted in three lots, and one of the lots behind the Inn will be a long-term motel for those who stay for more than a day or two. A third lot is expected to be for a restaurant, Garvin said.
What are
tax incentives?
Buckley said the kinds of incentives businesses often seek include sales tax rebates and ad valorem tax relief.
Both incentives operate on the same premise, Buckley said. The increased value from sales tax or ad valorem tax (property taxes) is used to help the businesses with their development for a certain period of time.
The city will enter in an agreement with a company that will do one of two things.
The new sales tax revenue projected by the company and city will go back to the company with a sales tax incentive. But the agreement isn’t forever, only for a certain period of time.
“If a company projects $2 million in tax revenue will be generated by their business, then we have to figure that some of that is transfer from other businesses and not new tax revenue,” Buckley said. “What is new tax revenue is what the city can agree to rebate back to the company as an incentive.”
With an ad valorem tax incentive, the extra amount the company will pay in property taxes after they build a facility on a piece of land would be rebated back to the company for a period of time.
In the end, though there will be a large increase in property value and taxes for a property that was once a field and now has a building on it, the city won’t see that revenue for a while.
However, Buckley said, large businesses provide jobs, and in the future, increased income through the city through the sales tax or ad valorem tax revenue.
A lot depends on any deal the city of Muskogee is willing to make, Hayes said.
“The city has decided to consider each deal on a deal-by-deal basis and see what it takes to get the deal done,” Hayes said.
Buckley said the fact that Muskogee is willing to consider incentives could attract some big business.
“When Walmart or Target or Kohl’s or Bubba’s steakhouse is looking to expand, they start researching several years out,” Buckley said. “If we’re on their radar that far out, but we offer incentives, it could mean they might open a business here much sooner. So, that gets a business to Muskogee sooner and that benefits both retail and quality of life.”
Retail task force
forming new land plan
Muskogee hired a national consulting firm in May 2010 to update the city’s land use map and include an outline of projected growth in Muskogee.
Nine areas of the city will be focused on by the firm, Houseal Lavigne Associates, and a draft will be presented to the city May 16.
“Ten years ago, we looked at the city and said, where are we looking at growing and where do we want commercial and residential growth to be,” Buckley said. “Now we need to look at the old land use map and see what other areas we need to develop and what areas have naturally developed into residential or commercial areas.”
Shawnee Bypass, York Street, Main Street, 32nd Street, Okmulgee Avenue, Chandler Road, Peak Boulevard, Muskogee Turnpike and downtown are specific areas of focus for the consulting firm, said City Planner Gary Garvin.
“There seems to be a trend nationwide to have competition for space,” Buckley said. “It used to be Muskogee vs. McAlester. Now it’s Muskogee vs. Owasso and Muskogee vs. Edmond. “It’s becoming a global market. Cities have to do something to set them apart.”
The city is working with the Muskogee Area Chamber of Commerce and a development committee to come up with a new plan of growth for Muskogee.
Buckley said land zoning in certain areas could change, or stay the same, depending on traffic and where growth has naturally been occurring. For example, the south side of town might benefit from a grocery store or supercenter.
The city would have to see if there are viable areas to develop into commercial zoning in that area based on traffic patterns, existing residential and commercial zoning, he said.
Reach Donna Hales at (918) 684-2923 or dhales @muskogeephoenix.com.