Festival Foods, Kwik Trip to employ nearly 250 workers

City Plan Commission approves TIF amendment, funding for intersections

By Kevin Braley, Herald Times Reporter

MANITOWOC — A planned Festival Foods grocery store and Kwik Trip are expected to provide nearly 250 jobs to Manitowoc once new stores are completed this fall on the city's southwest side, City Planner David Less said.

On Wednesday, the Plan Commission unanimously approved extending a tax-increment finance district to help pay for new intersections in the area of the proposed development.

Less said without new intersections at Dewey and South 42nd streets and South 42nd Street and South Frontage Road, increased congestion could create problems.

Festival Foods is planning to build on South 42nd Street, near Faith Evangelical Free Church. Kwik Trip will be constructed at the corner of South 42nd and Dewey streets, Less said.

The stores are expected to open by October, Less said.

Festival Foods plans to employ up to 225 people and a proposed Kwik Trip nearby plans to employ about 20 people, Less said.

He said without the reconstruction of the "bad" intersections, a planned, 77,000-square-foot Festival Foods store and Kwik Trip won't be built. The estimated cost of the intersection reconstruction is about $2.7 million, although the designs and cost have not been finalized.

The TIF extension will allow the city to use funds collected from property taxes in the district to pay for the redesigned intersections, Less said.

At a public hearing Wednesday, Craig Fickett of Manitowoc questioned why Manitowoc needs another food store.

Mayor Kevin Crawford told Fickett the city isn't offering incentives for Festival Foods to build here. Crawford said the grocery store wanted to build in Manitowoc and is free to do so.

The new development — worth about $9 million — will pay about $176,000 in taxes annually, decreasing the burden on other property owners, Crawford said.

The new TIF area will be added to TIF 15, which includes the Harbor Town development, Less said.

The proposed TIF addition is bordered by South 42nd Street on the west and South 35th Street on the east.

The majority of the amended TIF area is south of Dewey Street, with the exception of an area north of Dewey Street, bordered by South 39th Street on the west and South 35th Street on the east.

The TIF amendment now will go to the Common Council for consideration on Monday, Less said.

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