The Bartlesville City Council on Monday approved a request from the Bartlesville Development Authority to provide development assistance of $30,430 to Luigi’s Italian Restaurant, which recently opened for business at their new and expanded facility,
BDA President David Wood told the council the incentive is part of the City’s retail recruitment program, which began in 2014.
“In addition to a massive amount of research to identify desired brands that were expanding, and supported by our demographics, we needed an incentive policy that would effectively concentrate our finite economic development sales tax revenue to entice targeted brands to take a risk and locate in a smaller market,” Wood said.
“Based on the results, we got it right,” he said, pointing out retail additions to the city that include Silver Lake Village, improvements to Eastland Shopping Center and, most recently, the Shoppes at Turkey Creek. “Success begets success, and Bartlesville is continuing to ride that wave even as brick-and-mortar retailers have pulled back — most recently Bricktown Brewery, Schlotzsky’s, and Tropical Smoothie — with more on the way.”
But while pursuing those national brands, Wood said, care was taken to assure that the city’s existing businesses — “our friends and neighbors that had been serving our community and collecting sales taxes on our behalf for years” — could also benefit under the same financial terms.
“In short, new incremental sales from an expanding existing business would, under policy, qualify for exactly the same incentive as an “outsider,” he said.
Luigi’s Italian Restaurant qualified as one of those businesses. Formerly located at 3822 S.E. Frank Phillips Blvd., the restaurant recently relocated to 1409 S.E. Washington Blvd.
The restaurant opened in Bartlesville in 2005, Wood said.
“Vito and his brother-in-law, Affrim, were originally operating in Texas but desired a smaller, ‘family friendly’ community to raise their children,” Wood said. “Luigi’s has been good for Bartlesville, and Bartlesville has proved to be a good choice for Luigi’s, too. With the opportunity to acquire the tract adjacent to Stride Bank on Highway 75, Vito reached out to BDA to see what assistance might be available if he were to invest in a new, expanded facility.”
Wood said that all things being equal, a 60 percent increase in seating would allow for an incremental increase in revenue of $600,000 annually. The addition of a full bar (previously limited to beer and wine), along with a new outdoor seating area, “are reasonably expected to produce an additional $295,000 in annual revenue.”
“In total, BDA anticipates an annual sales increase of $895,000,” he said. “Discounting for substitution sales, the City of Bartlesville is expected to receive an additional $6,086 in net new annual sales tax revenue resulting from the Luigi’s expansion.. Under policy, one-half of that net new increase is available to the expanding business, and assuming our standard 10-year horizon, Luigi’s is qualified for $30,430 in development assistance upon Certificate of Occupancy.”
The incentive was approved with a unanimous vote of the council.