NEBRASKA CITY –  The former Vanity Fair Factory Stores of America mall at Nebraska City would become a light industrial site for cultivation of hemp under a proposal for tax increment financing.

The Nebraska City Planning Commission has scheduled a 6:30 p.m. meeting on Sept. 2 to review the TIF proposal from KORE Holdings for the property on the Highway 2 interchange south of the city.

 

Weeds growing at former mall site

The Nebraska City Community Development Agency notes that the site is in a designated redevelopment area and the 90,000-square-foot building that had housed the VF Mall is blighted and obsolete.

Economic Developer Dan Mauk said unexpected economic forces have eroded the building’s potential as a retail mall.

He said a surge in the popularity of online shopping has made it difficult for national chains to maintain a brick and mortar presence and said the coronavirus pandemic interfered with jobs and added health concerns to the mix.

Mauk said he believes the owners who bought the former mall expected that, under proper local management, it could be restored to where it was as a retail center.

Mauk said  it’s hard now to identify what is the ideal use of the former mall, but said the hemp production facility fits in with the city’s redevelopment plan.

Mauk: “This project is probably not what was envisioned, but it would improve the cosmetics of the area and bring an investment in the range of $5 million to $6 million.”

Mauk: “I guess I would rather have a bunch of retail stores, but, if they are not going to be successful and stay in business, then we are back where we started.”

 

A memorandum from City Attorney Drew Graham outlines the legalities of hemp production.

He said cannabis that contains .3 percent or less of THC  is classified as hemp.

Hemp is harvested for a wide range of products, including paper, clothing and plastic. It is also used for food, cooking oil and hemp flour. Medicinal products, such as CBD oil, are also produced.

 Former VF Mall building

The federal government’s Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 legalized hemp and hemp-derived products, although Graham says State Attorney General Doug Peterson has not issued an updated statement regarding the Nebraska Hemp Farming Act as it pertains to CBD oil.

The city’s cost benefit analysis, which was produced for the TIF proposal, says the current tax valuation of the former mall building is $354,000, but would increase to $3.6 million. This would produce about $73,000 a year in tax increments to go back to the project.

Mauk said the proposed use of the building will improve the cosmetics of the redevelopment area.

Mauk: “To an extent, it will make it look like it is not an eyesore, and an abandoned building that is not utilized.”

 

Mauk said his office is seeing a lot of activity and said the KORE Holdings development will not detract from that.

Mauk: “Companies are seeing a low incidence of COVID here. We have access to highways. He said both sides of the interchange have promise.”

The development is expected to create eight full-time jobs.