Posted 9:24 pm Thursday, January 17, 2013
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Hardware store on its way to Chandler
Construction of a hardware store in Chandler will create jobs and increase city tax revenues, the city administrator said.
Arrangements are in the final stages for construction of an Ace Hardware Store near the Family Dollar store on the north side of Texas Highway 31.
The project is being undertaken by Dan Langen, owner of Noonday Hardware on Texas Highway 155, south of Tyler.
Langen has been working on lining up the project for at least a couple of years, securing title to the land where the store will be built and other preparations.
The new store is anticipated to create eight to 10 jobs. The building is estimated to cost $450,000. Langen's investment is projected to total about $750,000 for the building and land, excluding inventory.
Plans call for the 15,000-square-foot store to be built on about three and a half acres of land. It will contain about 10,000 square feet of retail space and about a 5,000-square-foot warehouse.
The front entrance will be on Texas Highway 31 with a parking lot and delivery door for customers. There also will be a delivery area on the north side where 18-wheelers can back in for deliveries to the store.
"It's going to be a nice-looking store," City Administrator Jim Moffeit said. "It will be a nice addition (to the city) for more than one reason,"
"It's a new structure in town. It's on the west end of town where we've been trying to revitalize and rework things and get rid of some of the older, uninhabitable houses down there. We've been on that program for two or three years."
Moffeit added, "It will hopefully kick start some businesses going in on that end of town. We're glad to have Mr. Langen coming. It's going to be a big asset for our community to get this up and running."
City officials thought it was a good deal to get the new building, particularly in that part of town, and it would help spur growth in that end of town, Moffeit said.
Chandler Economic Development Corporation and Chandler City Council recently approved a $30,000 grant to help fund infrastructure and driveways for the new store.
The city administrator expects it will only take the economic development corporation four years to get its money back. That's because the store is anticipated to generate $30,000 in city sales tax revenue per year, of which 25 percent, or $7,500 would be earmarked for economic development.
"We think this (store) will do probably $1 million (in sales) the first year it is in business and then get on up to $1.5 million (annually), maybe more," Moffeit said.
That projection is based on that sales at the Noonday Hardware are in the $1.6 million range per year, he said.
The city also expects the new Chandler store will add between $3,500 and $5,000 to the city's ad valorem tax rolls.
City officials have been working with the developer to help him get the new store through the economic development corporation and are now working with him on rezoning, replatting the property and getting approval of the construction plans.
A portion of the land where the store will be built already is zoned for business use, but another portion will have to be rezoned from residential to business. The rezoning proposal is scheduled to be presented to the city planning and zoning commission on Feb. 5 and to the city council on Feb. 12.
Langen will have to submit his building plans and materials list to the city and obtain approval for the planned metal building. But it will have a stucco look to comply with the city code for exteriors of commercial structures.
Moffeit expects Langen will start construction at the end of February or early March and open for business by the middle of May or early June.
