CHELSEA – In front of many people in its first regularly scheduled meeting for the month of December, the Chelsea City Council made a big decision regarding a future retail development and its anchor tenant.

During a regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 2, the Chelsea City Council approved economic incentive packages for The Shoppes of Chelsea and a Target that will be located within the development following public hearings.

Former mayor Tony Picklesimer included in his final State of the City Address on Oct. 7 a hint at what the new development was, highlighting it and emphasizing that Chelsea is in a thriving period of commercial real estate.

The Shoppes of Chelsea is developed by GBT Realty, which is a Tennessee-based corporation that was founded in 1987 that helps in developing and managing more than 40 million square feet of a number of different types of developments. That includes commercial development, shopping centers and regional power centers,

GBT Realty’s proposed site plan is similar to the company’s only other center located in Alabama, The Shoppes of Albertville. That development has 12 spaces and is anchored by Hobby Lobby, but also has other big brands neighboring it like Pet Smart, Ross and TJ Maxx.

Franklin Land Associates LLC, which is an affiliate of GBT Realty was given the opportunity to purchase 20.30 acres of land at the site of the city’s annual Big Kaboom. In addition, the developer made an offer to Target Corporation out of Minnesota to sell it an 11.27-acre portion of that land.

The agreement between the city of Chelsea and Target is a $15 million sales tax abatement where Target will get 1.5 cents of the 5 cents that the city currently collects in sales tax off the sales of the development. That will last up until Target earns $15 million or the contract reaches its lifespan of 20 years.