MASON CITY – City Hall in Mason City confirmed Thursday that a large department store – and possibly more – is headed to the city’s west side Indianhead shopping district.
A Marshall’s department store is slated to be completed in 2014 and will be located west of Kohl’s department store in the Willow Creek Crossing Development. The store will be about 22,000 square feet in size and cost $2 million to build.
The developer, North Iowa Growth, LLC, will receive economic development grants of tax increment (TIF) – totaling $480,000 over 7 years – for increases in property value associated only with the 22,000 square foot building.
Willow Creek Crossing Development already is home to Kohl’s Petco, MC Sports and Best Buy, among others.
City Hall believes that the Marshall’s store will be a “catalyst” for the rest of the shopping center, “which will stabilize the current retail mix and draw new retailers to the center as well as new restaurants to the lots fronting Highway 122.”
City Hall claims to “have evidence that Marshall’s is attracting new investment to the shopping center.” Plans have been submitted, City Hall officials say, that show the new 22,000 square foot Marshall’s store flanked by two other leasable spaces: a 5,400 square foot store and an 18,000 square foot store.
WELCOME Marshalls-BUT where are the mfg jobs that this town really needs? To the Politian’s DO your job bring us GOOD jobs for good income like was here is years gone by. This town use to be a center of mfg. now we are just a service town.
The manufacturing jobs probably went to towns where people can spell politician correctly.
No I didn’t.
We are now a service economy and like the Boss said, “those jobs are gone boys and they ain’t coming back”
@Pepperann: We are going to need those part-time jobs to fulfill hours all the people will need who will be going to part-time from full-time due to cuts because of ObamaCare. Manufacturing and tech jobs won’t come here unless some local people decide to create a business like the TeamQuest group did.
“I haven’t seen ANY of the predicted out of control crime and trouble around diamond jo worth.”
Really? That’s odd, because any typical idiot knows gambling AND pot causes out of control crime and trouble. The sky is falling. Jebus wouldn’t approve.
move the current mall tenants into the new retail center of town (west side). one good casino down town would solve a lot. oh yea, I forgot, our citizens fought tooth and nail to keep a casino out of the county. I haven’t seen ANY of the predicted out of control crime and trouble around diamond jo worth. they generate so much voluntarily paid money that they have to think of ways to give out grants, not to mention putting up billboards to rub our noses in it.
Peter L. is on to something when he says, ” What makes a community cool is when businesses offer interesting, useful, and cutting edge products and services to spark our senses and imagination, as well as satisfy utilitarian needs”.
I was in Mankato, Minnesota the other day and my wife and I both commented on how much Mankato has grown and well laid out and easy to get around their booming town. They obviously want and did grow, and don’t try and control wages!
It seems they were on the same wave length as Peter L.
Mankato is almost now part of the extended twin city metro area. A great little town; I went to school there briefly once. Not to mention they brought their college (MN State) into the fabric of the city, unlike Mason City, which booted theirs (NIACC) out of the downtown into a cornfield 2 miles away. It’s one mistake after another here in River City, and the trend continues today. Although I do like how the city is getting aggressive in tearing down the rat traps around town.
You can have all the stores you want but without jobs that actually can support a family MC will continue to shrink. The only people coming to town now are hospital employees and big city welfare families taking advantage of Iowas free housing program and the drug trade.
YOu must not shop very much!!! Marshall’s and Kohl’s have little in common when it comes to price. This is why Marshall’s, TJ Maxx, Gordmans and Tuesday Mornings are popular. They have name brand merchandise that is sold at Kohl’s, Macy’s, Bloomingdales, etc… for usually 40-60% off their prices…. That is why they are popular. They are not Walmart, Shopko or Target. Higher end merchandise for awesome prices…
If u look at the current census and see that in Mason City the majority of households with a family of 4 make a median salary of 32k or less…. Less than 10 % with a family of four make over $ 75,000.
So, when we are looking at shopping– the lower the price the better…
It only costs a little more to fly first class. Sometimes Target and Wally World go for to low of a price point. I find it pays to spend for quality in the long run.
Maybe those middle age gals you mention could have their abysmal voids filled by Peter Children, (the women slayer) as he’s bragged about “taking care” of other men’s wives in the past. It might be cheaper than getting their nails done.
Same old Peter L, LOTS of opinion but little to no action. He fits in well in the north Iowa population.
@Peter L.-Once again I agree with your comments. We will never get out of this until we get decent paying jobs. More retail or feel goo shops will not get us there. Mason City is starting to turn into a big slum.
I respectfully disagree with your assessment of Kohl’s vs. Marshalls…
Kohl’s does have name brand product and good sales.
But, Marshalls, Gordmans, TJ Maxx sell the name brand products for almost half price in most cases.
Got a king size set — comforter, shams, sheet set and dust ruffle– Ralph Lauren– sold at Kohl’s for $ 259.00 got it at Marshall’s for $ 140.00.
That is what I am talking about!! Got a Michael Kors purse that retails for $ 295 on sale for $ 69.
That is the kind of shopping I like….
High quality — low prices….paying low prices for quality and now it will be local…..Yeah!!!
@Peter L.-If you think that will ever happen you are smoking that funny stuff again. Nice dream, but that is all.
@Peter L.-your answer doesn’t surprise me. There is something wrong with smoking poison- IT IS AGAINST THE LAW.
@Peter L.-Don’t care how you smoke it. It is still ILLEGAL in Iowa.
smoking UNTAXED poison is illegal.
“marijuana is against the law”
And the LAW IS AN ASS.
Oh btw– my Ralph Lauren and Michael Kors products were made in the USA…. You can find them if you look hard enough….
I agree. More big boxes and for what. By the way our downtown mall is dead. This is insane.
Matt: Could you find out the following information: 1) How many will the store employ?
2) What the pay scale will be for the workers?
3) What kind of benefits will the workers get i.e.
insurance, vacation, 401k plan? From your article, it appears the rich get richer, and, oh well.
I will definitely get that information as soon as I can.
I think that you would be surprised to know that in Mason City, if you make $ 10 per hour, that is considered good…. most do not have benefits or limited at best or expensive. Any company can say they offer benefits– but they do not have to fully fund them…
I never understood why they always say wages are better in the private sector. Why do u think that everyone wants to work for the City or County to get good money and benefits, including IPERS..
There are many jobs in the non-profit world that reguire at least an AA degree, but generally B.S. and get paid less than $ 9.00 per hour and the benefits are almost non-existent.
Now, another yogurt shop makes no sense. Cherry Berry is good, but, you need overtime pay to afford to go there. A total of 4 of us went and I paid like $ 18.00…. not doing that again anytime soon.
A few name brand restaurants would be good. It would be nice to have a change of pace… And, not another Mexican restaurant… Geez with the new Panchero’s that makes 11 or 12… HOw bout an Olive Garden, Panera, Macaroni Grill, bring back Red Lobster, …
Think Local Option Tax Dollars…..
@crazy shopper-you will never see a Red Lobster or Olive Garden come to Mason City. Not enough market with all the other fast food places in town. They look at that number and say no thanks. They also look at the average income level in a area and the North Iowa Area is way to low. You want good restaurants, get good paying jobs in the area to support them.
In our “blue zone” fast food is king. Just look at the drive up lines starting at 11:30 AM and 5:30 PM. These fat lazy arrogant people don’t give a squirt about themselves or their bodies. Watch them after they get their orders. Chompping fries and guzzling soda as if the world was ending.
I believe it’s true as I’ve seen it myself nurse, but that’s what America is all about. Freedom to make choices…Ooooops! Sorry I was thinking of the old America. We now jail more people than all other countries combined and 1 out of every 7 are there for pot and the other 5 are there for drugs. Soon we are gonna Blue Zone every-bodies arse. “You’re costing us health care by your behavior” type chit.
I have been saying this for years!!! We need the next level up in discount shopping… I was hoping it would go downtown to anchor the south end….
Stores like Marshall’s, TJ Maxx and Gordman’s and Tuesday Mornings draw people for miles…. The ladies of leisure here in Mason City, go out of town every week to shop these places… I hope maybe they will shop here and use some of their rich husbands money locally and help drive our economy!! I hear them talk at coffee shops about all the shopping in Rochester MN and other places that have these stores….
I am excited…..
Ya, I tell ya man, hot chicks never seem to change. In the 80’s us guys supported most of these stores for all the hot chicks. Chicks seem to like to try the clothes on in person so they can see their a$$. Good move because back in the 80’s chicks would have to lie down and wrestle to get those Sassoons on, then it made thier butt look flat!
@crazy-it will help drive our economy alright. All the profits will go to corporate headquarters in some big city and we will get the benefits of having some more low paying, part time jobs. Of course the land owners (MacNiders) will make a lot of money. We won’t even get the benefits in additional taxes for seven years and by then they will close down and be gone.
These tax credit gifts are done as competition between cities and town to atract a tax payer base….and of course bring in jobs. While not the highest paying these jobs will aid in paying the heat bill this winter and also fill some medicine bottles when combined with pension checks.
s far as the McNider family goes, they have done more for this community than anyone can imangine.
Nope you are still trying to sell your BS!
This is Junk Progress at the expense of the little guy.
Said another way: WELFARE FOR THE RICH!
Oh, blow it our your a…….. This is good for our economy and our local option sales tax…
As far as the MacNiders go– they have done lots more than u will ever know. They just don’t go around bragging about their charitable and other giving. And, who cares if the rich get richer…. it still doesn’t put money in my pocket anyway… It is what it is… Some people are blessed enough to be born into it and some are not…
@crazy shopper-And some people are born stupid and it seems you just might be one of them
Recently there was a huge outcry because of the micro enterprise program giving the roller rink money to buy candy and other product to sell. People were upset and angry our city council did this and thought it unfair.
Well folks the city council did themselves one better! Giving Marshalls and the developers 480,000 in taxpayer money. How do we know this money is going to build a building or other infrastructure…or is going to be used to buy stock for the store….480,000 dollars worth of stock. Yes clothes and accessories, not candy but it is the same.
Basically this is the micro enterprise program on a much larger and detrimental scale. Marshalls has deep enough pockets and lines of credit why do they have to stick their hands in our pockets?
Wake up! the city isn’t handing out checks, it gives the money in forgivable tax credits.
I am wide awake! Are you trying to say this does not cost the taxpayers of Mason City any money? Look at the whole picture not just a “handing out of a check”.
More double talk from Jimmy John. He would have us all believe that a “forgivable tax credit” AKA as Tax Increment Financing grant money Is not tax dollars.
Maybe he really believes that property tax dollars that are not collected is somehow not tax money. No, he knows better.
He is one of those elitists/socialists/communist/Democrats/and RINO’s (Republican in Name Only) that want the rest of us to believe his BS.
Sorry, no bananas today! Jimmy John is just one more that can not be trusted!
Jimmy john is probably a hired pr guy that the mayor pays out of his own pocket…to make posts like this so the average person thinks…oh god bless the city and the macniders for being so good to us…well I tell you what there are a few of us who don’t buy into this crap and still understand what tax increment financing actually and truly means.
@common sense man-I think you might have just hit the nail on the head. There are several on here that post under different names that are lackey’s of the mayor. At least Reggie (Red) post under the same name and stands by what he says. (as misguided as he is sometimes)
Ha Ha thanks LVS, I think. The way I understand TIF is that right now the land is empty and not generating very much property tax for the city. By forgiving the property tax for something like 10 years a company will build a multi million dollar store and start paying tax in year 11. If we did not do this for them another city,such as clear lake, would. I totally agree this free handout to large businesses has got to stop but Mason City can’t be the Lone Ranger. Like someone else said it must start at the Federal level.
@Reggie (Red)-Hey Reggie-it was meant as a compliment. You are entitled to your opinion and even though we don’t always agree, I respect that.
While I agree with 4ever49, I would like to add some additional thoughts on his/her suggestion:
Here is the way we stop this BS.
Both at the Federal and State level we need to elect people that will pass legislation that eliminates PUBLIC PRIVATE VENTURES!
Public Private Ventures occurs when the taxpayers give money to a business to locate or expand in a community. They were created by our State and Federal Government with legislation to take tax dollars and give that money to business all in the name of jobs. It was and is a ruse!
America needs to return to an earlier time when only banks loaned money to business to compete and do business. That alone helped keep prices down and reduced inflation.
We need to stop all tax dollars to be allowed for any kind of incentive. Giving tax dollars as incentive only drives down wages and destroys our economic base. I call it a form of REVERSE PROTECTIONISM that harms us all. It inhibits competition too.
All the elitists/socialists/communist/Democrats/and RINO’s (Republican in Name Only) will come out against this concept and tell us we will not be able to create jobs. Baloney!
That is another crock of BS.
Jobs will be created when there is DEMAND. Wages go up when there is a demand for labor. Competition raises quality and lowers prices to us all. Free Enterprise built this country and Public Private Ventures have been destroying it.
Wake up folks, America has to get away from this left wing agenda that promotes socialism where we lose our freedom!
@watchdog-very well said. I have been saying that for years. Whatever happened to a business investing it’s own money to make more money. They want to do it with no risk to themselves.
Hey bro, lots of 80’s chicks needed the mall open downtown back then. It was all about providing shopping for the MCHS chicks back then. Daughters were crying to parents, ya dig man.
All In All It’s Just Another Brick In The Mall.
Is that you Tonya-back from jail again. I saw in the paper where you were tagged once more by the cops.
When the mall falls, maybe they can remodel it into their event center. Plenty of parking in the area. Or maybe Mercy will buy it for more space. Personally, I’d like to see Federal Avenue go right through the middle of it again.
This is what happens when local governments are allowed to play the EDC game. When every local government competes against its neighbor then promoters become quite adept at playing them off against each other. Recall the competition between MC and Cedar Falls over the Target distribution center. Cedar Falls won out in part to their ownership of the utility provider and was able to add that to the pot of goodies being offered – which MC did not have.
The real question is why do we allow government at any level to enter into this game? I don’t think local administrators or politicians are clairvoyant as to the prospects of ventures, nor should we expect them to be.
If we truly want this stopped something needs to happen at the national level.
You know, when you get right to it, the taxpayers have allowed politicians (by law) to play Monopoly with OUR tax dollars.
All in the name of Junk Progress!
sorry for the typo
How can the line now be drawn for handouts for this junk progress? All these developments expect the freebies. The people pay it out. I hope the city comes out ahead on this.
You know, when you get right to it, the taxpayers have allowed politicians (by law) to play Monopoly with out tax dollars.
All in the name of Junk Progress!!
Just what we don’t need. Why would we need another low wage retail store and more fast food restaurants? By the way, it was Jolas and Kew that pushed the damn mall. We were in the mall last week and if it wasn’t for the people that work there there wouldn’t have been anyone there. This was not a one time deal. If not for the workers and walkers it would be empty.
LVS, you are right about Kew and Jolas promoting the mall. But don’t forget, they were fronting for people like MacNider, Raises, Fox, ect. I can’t remember all the people’s names that got top dollar for their old junk buildings downtown.
That whole Southbridge fiasco was nothing more than a huge rip off of the Mason City Taxpayers.
To see this crap still going on after all these years is amazing. It shows how the stupid voters keep putting the No Name Party back in office to let the Bookmeyer’s and Kuhn’s, and the rest of the city council take their tax money and give them low wage jobs.
Between the Chamber of Crime, the Globe Gazette with stupid reporters like John Skipper that promote this left wing socialist garbage, the elitists keep making a ton of money off this development in the name of junk progress. The clean up and the taxpayers loose again!
Wake up folks!!!!
@watchdog-you are correct. I had forgotten that. Did you know that we just finished paying off the debt from the mall about three or four years ago. Now it is in bankruptsy and it wouldn’t surprise me to see it go under at the end of the year. We are still paying for the Northbridge project. What suckers we voters are in this town. The rich get richer on the backs of the tax payers.
wow another retail store that pays min wage.Marshall stores arent that impressive so do not get that excited.
WOW!
Spreading the wealth!! Up!!!
Let’s see here, MacNider pushed the downtown Mall which is a joke that cost the Mason City taxpayers millions of dollars. The Southbridge rip off became a failure. It was supposed to make Mason City grow. We are smaller now then we were before that boondoggle.
MacNider got paid for his old Penny’s store and came out smelling like a rose.
Then MacNider goes out west builds Indianhead and takes stores that was in the Mall and relocates them to Indianhead development, making more money. Now we see a new department store that Southbrigde was supposed to lure downtown, building out at the MacNider Indianhead development. Make some more money, yea for MacNider.
Marshalls Department store builds a 2 million dollar building and the taxpayers of Mason City give them $480,000 dollars (that is about 1/4th of the building) without even being asked for the money from the taxpayers. Do you see a loss of freedom here folks?
Oh they will tell us this will be “progress”. What a crock!
Isn’t this spreading the wealth up to the rich great folks? Don’t ya just love this Communist/Socialist/Democrats way of spreading the wealth? The rich get richer and poor get poorer.
Some dam fool will blame the Republicans but remember it was RINO’s (Republicans In Name Only) and Democrats that pushed for the laws that let the government give our money away. They are all just Communist/Socialist/left wing/ pukes!
When will the foolish voters/taxpayers WAKEUP? Or have we lost all control of our Communist/Socialist government?
All of these comments are so entertaining… But yours don’t make much sense. You are blaming democrats, communists etc….Well, all but Alex Kuhn on the City Council are major Republicans, MacNiders are major major Republicans… The Chamber Director is a major Republican…. and so on.
This is simply about development and drawing even more people to Mason City to pay Local Option Sales Tax on their purchases… You would be amazed at the tax dollars Walmart, Target, Menard’s and the big boxes bring in. That all goes to our budget…. As far as retail jobs paying poorly. That is right. But not everyone has a college education or willing to work in a factory to make higher wages.. Many young people or people who want to work part-time or flex schedules like retail.. Blaming the rich for your problems is insane…
Everyone that complains about the rich are just jealous. I am not rich and I don’t give a rats ass if MacNiders, Shaefers or anyone else gets richer. We cannot stop that. IT is what it is….
Hey, got a lighter MacNider?