By Laura Keeter

Daily Times Staff Writer

Tax value of properties at the Interstate 95 interchange with U.S. 264 reached developers' initial goal early. The $10 million mark was hit in two years instead of the projected six.

"It's been phenomenally fast," said Ellis Williford, Wilson County manager.

"I think we've reached a plateau," said Ed Etheridge, one of the developers in Lagniappe 95, the development company. "We've got a good, established base out there. Hopefully, we can add to that."

The "base" includes Cracker Barrel, Holiday Inn Express, Sleep Inn, Federal Express and several other hotels, restaurants and gas stations. Some land is still available to sell and develop, Etheridge said.

Developers are now entitled to refunds from the city and county in a deal negotiated between them.

Developers agreed to pay the $567,000 cost up front of extending water and sewer lines to and across I-95. A tunnel was bored underneath the interstate highway to carry water and sewer lines.

The city and county agreed to repay the costs according to how much tax value new development brought. Full reimbursement would be made from the county at $10 million and from the city at $11 million.

Excluding Federal Express, whose site wasn't part of the deal, tax value is $10.9 million.

The county will pay off its balance to developers -- $167,656 -- next week, Williford said.

After Wilson makes a $192,000 payment this month, the city will have left to pay about $10,000, said Gary Mills, city engineer. The remainder will probably be paid next year when development tax value should hit $11 million, he said.

An ABC Store is now under construction beside The Waffle House, and two more lots have been sold for future hotels.

"I think that the project has been about as good an example as you can get of what can happen when government and the private sector work together to achieve a desirable goal," attorney David Woodard said in a letter to the county. He and the Virginia Hayes family are the other partners in Lagniappe 95.

Lagniappe (lan-yap), which is French, means "a small gift presented to a customer with their purchase" or "a little something extra."

In this case, however, Lagniappe means something big.

"We were very delighted it's gone that well," Etheridge said. "Certainly we didn't know going in that it would happen that way."

Tax dollars generated from interchange development should benefit the entire community, he said.

New development is a "double whammy" for the county, Williford said. Not only do new hotels and restaurants create greater tax base, but development tends to have a snowball effect.

"Once you get one restaurant, you get two more," Williford said. "Once you get one service station, you get two more."