HUTTO — Whether they want it or not, Hutto residents are getting a Sprouts Farmers Market grocery store.
Since Mayor Mike Snyder announced the project on social media July 14, his post has received more than 500 responses, many of them opposing the project. On Thursday, City Council approved an incentive package to bring in the store on a 5-2 vote, with council members Brian Thompson and Peter Gordon voting against the project.
“Does this answer the need for a grocery store on the north side? I don’t think it does because it’s not a grocery store most people will shop at,” said Gordon. “I would rather hold the incentives for a different grocery store that more people want.”
Community response against the store has been in large part due to its status as a niche market focusing on organic produce and lesser-known brands. Those types of items tend to be more expensive.
Gordon and Thompson both said they had heard from the community that Hutto residents want a lower price grocery store with broader appeal, such as an H-E-B or an Aldi.
Sprouts will be an anchor tenant in a 14-acre development in north Hutto, at the corner of Texas 130 and US 79. The project will have about 10 tenants overall, according to Adam Zimel, a representative of developer Endeavor Real Estate Group.
On Thursday, Zimel agreed to the stipulation of ensuring one of those tenants would be a full-service dine-in restaurant in order to move forward with the incentive package.
The city agreed to give Endeavor $875,000 in grants phased in as the developer hits construction goals in 2027, 2028 and 2029. Sprouts is expected to be completed in 2027 with the builder also completing two 12,000 square-foot commercial buildings over the next two years. Council also agreed to a sales tax reimbursement of about $675,000 over a 10-year period.
The company estimates its $28 million investment will add $5.9 million to the city’s property tax revenue and another $1.1 million in sales tax revenue over the duration of the incentives. The land is currently not within city limits but will be annexed so that Hutto can collect future property tax.
At a Hutto Economic Development Corp. meeting on July 14, the developer said that without the incentives the entire development would fall through.
“The incentive is necessary for us to make a viable project for (Sprouts),” Zimel said. “We’ve been very up front with the land seller, who we’ve transacted with in the last 18 months, that if we don’t get this incentive, we’re going to be dropping the contract that we have with him.”
While residents of the growing north side of Hutto have long clamored for a grocery store, Snyder says his efforts to bring one in have been unsuccessful up until now. He pointed to failed opportunities to bring in a Randall’s and an Aldi store as a reason for his support of the Sprouts incentive package.
“We keep getting into the politics of things but it’s not politics, it’s just straight business math,” said Mayor Mike Snyder. “For $350,000 (in phase one) you get a grocery store.”
Council member Dan Thornton said that there will be room in Hutto for more full-size grocery stores as well as specialty stores, and Sprouts coming is part of the mix. He said the store would be a benefit to the community and would provide a net positive quicker than some of the other deals the city has made.
Thornton pointed out that the development will bring other retail and commercial options to the site, including the promise of a full-service restaurant. For Gordon and Thompson, that wasn’t a good enough reason to grant financial incentives to Endeavor.
“The biggest thing for me is, it’s a Sprouts,” said Gordon. “It’s not a grocery store that most people are going to shop at and I’m watching what the citizens are saying and the citizens are saying, ‘This is not it.’”
