City approves tax incentive package for former Kmart, Gottschalks

Carson City's Board of Supervisors finally approved on Thursday a 50 percent sales tax rebate for three companies looking to fill a combined 270,467 square feet of vacant commercial space.

The largest chunk belongs to the former Kmart in north Carson City that has been vacant for nearly a decade. The new owners - Jiangson Duke LLC., of Reno - say they want to open a multi-use events center and other retail outlets inside the 170,000 square foot building that sits on an 18-acre parcel of land that is owned by Delaware-based investment group. The company has said it may purchase the ground lease before it expires in 2025.

Representatives from the capital's lodging properties and the Carson City Chamber of Commerce lauded the plan on Thursday, with Jonathan Boulware of the Gold Dust West calling it, "a game changer."

Added chamber of commerce executive director, Ronni Hannaman: "It would be nice to say I'm going to the event center, not the old Kmart."

Mayor Bob Crowell cautioned that the 15-year-long tax incentive package, which city officials say will be the last of its kind, will cost the city money down the road.

"The bottom line," Crowell said. "This is an expenditure of taxpayer money. It may not be out of pocket, but this is an expenditure of taxpayer money."

Other applications that were approved Thursday include the Riberio Company's Carson Tahoe Quail Park, which has 27,897 square feet of vacant retail space in south Carson City, as well as the 72,570 square foot former Gottschalks in the Carson Mall, which is owned by the Eureka, Calif., based Carrington Company.