The government-run development authority in Whitfield County, Ga., is backing $4.2 million in tax-free bonds to prepare property for a retail-restaurant development on Shugart Road that will include a Kohl's department store.
On Tuesday, the Dalton-Whitfield County Joint Development Authority agreed to the bond package, which will be repaid by the developer, but backed by the authority in case of default.
PDF: RealtyLink schematic that lists Kohl's
No one will say what businesses will occupy the retail center, but the developer's website contained a handful of schematics and other documents that listed Kohl's as the principal tenant in the seven-building Dalton Commons shopping center on 12.4 acres in front of Walmart and Home Depot.
The files were modified to remove Kohl's logo Tuesday after a Chattanooga Times Free Press reporter asked the developer if Kohl's was the otherwise unidentified retail tenant.
"This brochure has been taken off the website. We have no comments," said Carolina Gaito, a spokeswoman for RealtyLink, a Greenville, S.C., developer working on the project.
RealtyLink has built at least one other Kohl's in Anderson, S.C., and dozens of other retail and restaurant properties across the Southeast.
Whitfield leaders have not formally said who the principal retailer will be in the shopping center, but they have said the retail chain would be an "upscale general merchandise store."
"We're not providing any tax incentives, just some assistance to the developer," said Alex Stall, a project manager for the development authority. "I can't name the retailer."
If the deal is complete, the anchor store could open by next fall and the smaller retailers and restaurants could come online by spring 2012, Stall said. The store could bring about 500 jobs, according to RealtyLink.
Wisconsin-based Kohl's operates more than 1,000 stores in 49 states and planned to open 30 new stores in 2010. In 2009, the S&P Fortune 500 company had annual sales of $17.1 billion, according to its web site.
The chain would not confirm any plans to locate in Dalton when contacted Tuesday.
"At this time, we've not announced any plans to open a new store in your community," said spokeswoman Erin Kelbe in an e-mail. "Kohl's has an ongoing real estate assessment process. At any given time, Kohl's is reviewing sites in communities nationwide. We do not comment on real estate speculation."