Rural King Farm and Home Store has entered into a contract to purchase land for a future store in Warrenton.An announcement from the company, dated March 6, states the store will be located next to the existing Shoppes at Warrenton mall, just east of the new interchange currently under construction in Warrenton.“Subject to our satisfactory completion of due diligence, we hope to close on the purchase of the property later this year,” the announcement states. “Assuming all goes to plan, we would be working on a goal to open a Rural King store on the site in the fall of 2019.”In a letter sent to the city of Warrenton March 6, Blake Pierce, director of real estate for Rural King, addressed recent questions about the status of Rural King’s plans in Warrenton.“I apologize for any local confusion regarding our interest in this location, but due to the confidential nature of the negotiations, (we) have been unable to publicly comment until now,” he stated.The Warrenton Board of Aldermen approved an agreement March 6 to allocate up to $5 million in tax increment financing (TIF) from an existing mall redevelopment plan to assist with the cost of building the new Rural King store.TIF is a system in which the developer will front the cost for the project, then receive reimbursement from tax revenue generated at Rural King and other new stores at the mall.Future developmentThe Rural King store in Warrenton will be 85,000 square feet, making it one of the largest retail stores in the city.The store will offer a wide variety of products, some of which aren’t currently available in the area, said Warrenton Director of Operations Terri Thorn.“Right now the plan is for them to start construction in early 2019 and to open in fall of 2019,” said Thorn, who explained that before construction can begin, Rural King has to get a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers, which can take months, as well as go through the city’s planning and zoning process.Most of the negotiations to bring Rural King to Warrenton didn’t involve the city, but Rural King officials have visited, Thorn said.“They’re excited to be coming to the community,” she said. “They feel that there’s a lot of their business in Wentzville that’s coming from the west. So the hope is that those people will get off at Warrenton and shop at this store, and alleviate some of the pressure that they have on their Wentzville store.”Rural King’s arrival in Warrenton is part of a much larger plan that city officials and private developers hope will result in a new commercial district along Interstate 70. Land north and south of the new I-70 interchange being built on the west side of the city is slated for future development.In preparation for that development, the city has been building water and sewer infrastructure in cooperation with Montgomery County Water District, which serves the area of the future developments.Officials hope the access to the utilities, along with the new interchange, will provide a prime location for commercial entities to build in anticipation of the growing population trend moving west into Warren County.Tax reimbursementThe city of Warrenton has an existing deal with the developer of the Shoppes at Warrenton mall to provide up to $6 million in TIF funding to reimburse the cost of redeveloping the formerly defunct mall.The amended version of that agreement, approved by city aldermen March 6, redirects $5 million of those funds to Rural King, and does not increase the total possible tax reimbursement for the mall project.The agreement also allows the formation of a Community Improvement District — a special taxing district — to help Rural King recover that $5 million faster. The CID would add an additional 1 percent sales tax just to businesses at the mall.Lastly, the agreement states that if Rural King meets certain performance conditions, the city of Warrenton would offer additional assistance to reimburse that $5 million, according to public finance attorney Mark Grimm, who advises the city. If necessary, that might include committing additional city revenue sources.“If that were to occur, and if subsequently the TIF revenues and CID sales tax revenues were insufficient to pay the TIF bonds, the city would pay one-half of any shortfall from the other city revenues,” Grimm said. The other half of the shortfall would be paid by a special assessment, similar to a property tax, on the existing stores at the mall (but not Rural King).“Given the conditions that the city has imposed . . . such as Rural King owning its store, opening its store, demonstrating strong sales, etc., we believe it is very unlikely that the city would ever have to use other revenues to support this project,” Grimm said.Rural King