BROOKINGS — The city made its case to voters at a Tuesday night study session for approving the sale of Brookings Marketplace land, with emphasis on how the sale will benefit Brookings residents economically — especially if an Aldi grocery store winds up being an anchor tenant.

A special election in Brookings will decide the matter on Jan. 30, and early voting is already underway. A “yes” vote will allow the sale of 10 acres of city-owned land to Ryan Companies for subsequent development. A “no” vote will prevent that sale from occurring.

The issue was referred to a public vote in December after petitioners gathered enough signatures.

In an earlier story in The Brookings Register, it was noted that backers had concerns over whether the city was getting the most bang for its buck in terms of the money it would get from the sale if it charged developers closer to what some believed was its full market value.

The petition began circulating after a 7-0 vote by the City Council at its Nov. 14 meeting to allow Minneapolis-based Ryan Companies to reduce the amount of Brookings Marketplace land it wanted to buy for development purposes from 18.53 acres to 10 acres at a price of $1.40 per square foot. The amended sale totaled $609,840, whereas the original was in the ballpark of $1,130,000.

No one at Tuesday’s public meeting came out against the amended land sale plan, which came about after a previous anchor tenant’s plans changed at the corporate level and it backed out.

That led the developer to switch to its “Plan B,” which is where Aldi came into the picture.

Information from city documents indicates that the cost to develop the initial 10 acres will total around $10.3 million — that’s $20.50 per square foot for the four pad-ready sites that Ryan Companies is planning for. The cost is higher because little to no infrastructure is in place — things like roads, stormwater systems and water and sanitary sewers — and has to be more or less built from scratch. The land in question is just east of the Sixth Street interchange with Interstate 29, on the north side of the street.

“This land, though it’s viable and though it looks great adjacent to the interstate and looks like it could be developed relatively quickly, has quite a bit of hindrances that have to be overcome,” City Manager Paul Briseno said. “A lot of that is infrastructure that is needed.”

In addition to Aldi, Ryan Companies vice president of development Patrick Daly added others showing interest in the Brookings Marketplace land included a well-known Midwest furniture company. He added that other interested parties include a host of service and amenity retail-oriented businesses. These, according to information in a city memo, include a restaurant and a fuel station.

“I am confident that once we get an anchor in place with a new grocer, the rest of the pieces of the puzzle will come together,” Daly said, adding that plans are to develop the initial 10 acres, then move on to the remaining acreage from the original agreement in a second phase of development.

“I’m encouraged by all the support we’ve had from the community — I’m grateful for that,” Daly said. “These are incredibly complex projects.”

The project, if it bears fruit, would also generate a positive economic impact in Brookings, Briseno said, starting with the possible Aldi store.

“Sales tax is critical to our community,” he said, pointing out that the city’s general fund benefits greatly from retail development. “It’s critical that the city of Brookings constantly invest in retail opportunities.”

To be specific, the general fund receives 44% of its revenue from sales taxes while only getting 18% from property taxes. Public works, public safety, and parks, recreation and forestry are the city departments that utilize the general fund the most.

Just by itself, a new Aldi grocery store in the Brookings Marketplace development would generate an estimated $114,000 in annual property taxes, along with an estimated $158,000 in sales tax annually, according to information from Brookings Economic Development Corp. CEO Tim Reed. He said the data came from a study conducted by the Dakota Institute, adding that an Aldi store would also generate a $7.9 million increase in grocery sales, resulting in an economic output of over $4 million and 38 jobs in Brookings.

“The BEDC supports the Marketplace property sale to support economic growth in the Brookings Area,” he said.

It was also noted in a city memo that the proposed grocery store is only interested in building along the Sixth Street retail corridor, preferably with Interstate 29 visibility, and that the store’s owners aren’t interested in any other site in Brookings.

“We cannot tell a retailer where to go,” Briseno noted in his presentation.

Brookings-area residents seem to want more shopping options, at least according to a BEDC consumer survey from September 2019 that indicated a third grocery store option was preferred by 82% of respondents. It was also noted that a reduction in retail leakage would likely result from the construction, as more people would do their business in Brookings rather than going to other cities, such as Sioux Falls or Watertown.

— Contact Mondell Keck at mkeck@brookingsregister.com.