East Ridge approves tax-sharing deal for 4011 Ringgold Road shopping center

The East Ridge board on July 17 approved Resolution 2025-7-17, authorizing a Border Region sales-tax sharing agreement with ER Investment for a three-unit commercial development at 4011 Ringgold Road in East Ridge, Tennessee. The board voted 5-0 to adopt the measure.

City staff told the board the project is a three-unit shopping center with two units planned for retail use and one likely to be a laundromat. Staff said the total project cost is approximately $2,400,000 and that the city applied an estimated baseline of $17,000 to calculate Border Region revenue eligible for sharing.

The agreement allocates revenue from qualifying retail sales to a 70/30 split favoring the developer for the retail portion of the site (two-thirds of the development). City staff said the developers projected return on the apportioned retail revenue could be roughly $1,000,000 if the retailer meets the revenue projections provided in the developers pro forma. The staff presentation included two spreadsheets; staff clarified that the operative spreadsheet applies the two-thirds retail allocation and the 70/30 split.

Developer representative Dev Patel spoke to the board about the project vision and local ties. "It's not just as, like, a standpoint for, like, for us as an investment where we make money, but we wanna go back to the community and serve them with proper service," Patel said. He described East Ridge as "very welcoming" and said the developer has "plenty of investments throughout the city of East Ridge." The proposed tenant mix discussed in the meeting included a restaurant on the far right, a convenience store in the middle and a laundromat on the left.

Board members asked about the spreadsheet differences and staff explained the variance (about $40,000) stems from applying the retail-only reimbursement to two-thirds of the projects cost. The staff speaker framed the Border Region program as intended to "incentivize good, reputable retailers to come to the community."

A motion to approve Resolution 2025-7-17 was made and seconded; the roll-call vote recorded Board member Allen, Board member Green, Board member Jones, Board member Pamplin and Chairperson Crow voting yes. City staff estimated construction would begin in 2025 with the project roughly complete by mid-2026.

The resolution directs city staff to finalize the Border Region reimbursement schedule with ER Investment consistent with the packet exhibits and the corrected spreadsheet. No amendments were recorded at the meeting.