Frederick approves public-finance deal and sales-tax rebate to secure Lowe’s as second anchor

The Town of Frederick Board of Trustees approved a package of actions to support a proposed Lowe’s Home Centers store at Silverstone Marketplace, including a public finance agreement, an ordinance to effect sales-tax reimbursement, and a follow-up amendment to expand the public-improvements cap.

Staff told trustees the store is envisioned as a roughly 94,000-square-foot Lowe’s employing about 150 full-time-equivalent workers, with construction expected to start later this summer and to take about a year. The agreement before the board included two incentive components: a one-time lump-sum payment of $3,000,000 from Silverstone Metro District Number 3 delivered upon store completion, and a dedicated 1.5% sales-tax reimbursement that would be paid by the town to Lowe’s and capped at $12,300,000 or 20 years, whichever occurs first. Staff said the total combined incentive cap is $15,300,000 (inclusive of the $3,000,000 lump sum).

"This is performance based," a town staff presenter told the board, adding the revenue the town would reimburse is incremental revenue generated by Lowe’s sales that otherwise would not exist in Frederick. Staff said the Colorado Department of Revenue supplies point-level tax data (by address) and the town’s finance department will reconcile collections with Lowe’s twice a year.

Tyler Carlson of Evergreen Development, the master developer, told trustees the additional retail anchor should accelerate repayment of district bonds and eventually return sales-tax revenue to the town. Carlson said preliminary financing projections show a junior-bond payoff window of about 10–12 years under current assumptions and estimated the project would accelerate broader debt repayment for the development.

Staff also presented an economic-impact snapshot for the project: roughly 199 construction jobs and approximately $14.4 million in labor income during construction, with an estimated contribution of about $25 million to local GDP for the construction period; in year one of operations staff estimated about $10.8 million in labor income and about $14.5 million in induced purchases. Trustees asked about traffic and pedestrian safety near William Bailey and Highway 52; staff said necessary roadway tie-ins had been anticipated in prior traffic studies and that staff will continue to review safe- routes and crossings.

The board approved resolution 26R-07 to enter the public finance agreement with Lowe’s and then approved ordinance 1411 to implement the sales-tax reimbursement mechanism; both measures passed on recorded roll-call votes of 5–0. Later the board approved resolution 26R-08 and ordinance 1412 to amend the public finance agreement to increase the cap on eligible public improvements from $20,000,000 to $25,000,000 so the district could deliver the $3,000,000 lump-sum to Lowe’s and maintain debt-service capacity; those measures also passed 5–0.