The man who brought the modern-day version of the Fairplain Plaza to the local marketplace along with other key properties in that neighborhood including Slumberland Furniture, the Maytag Laundromat, and the strip center that brought both GameStop and Batteries Plus to town, is back at the drawing board in hopes of rehabilitating a sizable, but aging, building complex in the same Fairplain neighborhood of Benton Township with hopes of having it ready for new tenants this spring.
Jim Paul of JPA Associates has developed many properties across the region and attracted dozens of retailers over the past 25 years or more, including Best Buy who actually ended up building on a competitor’s land. Now he’s hard at work piecing together plans to completely rehabilitate the former building that housed both the original local Big Lots store and a Ridge & Kramer Auto Parts center along M-139 near the corner with Napier Avenue across from the Fairplain Plaza.
Paul is voicing deep gratitude to Benton Township board members and officials who voted last night to establish an Obsolete Property Rehabilitation District which sets the stage for a second public hearing for consideration of an Obsolete Property Rehabilitation Exemption Certificate for the site. If the exemption certificate gets the green light, Paul’s development firm, Properties Plus, LLC will be able to undertake a major renovation of the building while freezing property taxes at their current rate for up to 12 years and exempting additional taxes on those improvements.
Paul, who says he is continuing to perform his due diligence on the project, says that among other things he will have to undertake asbestos remediation processes stemming from the type of floor tile and adhesive used there, and plans a total makeover of the building. He says, “When the work is done virtually everything but the building’s major infrastructure will be all new,” aiding in his work to attract new businesses to that center.
Paul calls the proposed project “a perfect example of what the Obsolete Property Rehabilitation Act — OPRA for short — was designed to accomplish,” by reviving an unused property and putting it back into productive use for the public and the community at large.
Paul says he was represented at the Benton Township Board meeting by Cornerstone Alliance Business Development Manager Cathy Tilley who is assisting with the OPRA application process on the 60,000-plus square foot building.
As the renovation planning process has advanced over the past several months, Jim Paul has been working diligently to attract retail tenants for the center, with hopes of having two signed to share the space, much as the previous tenants had. He tells me he’s had “some leasing negotiation success, and hopefully we can announce some deals within the next 60 days or so.”
The developer’s makeover includes “a whole fresh new look for the building, renovation and re-striping of the parking lot,” and more. As always, stay tuned.
