By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – A Birmingham commercial real estate firm is set to close on property for a new retail, restaurant and office development next to Shelby Baptist Medical Center off U.S. 31 in Alabaster later this month, according to the developer.

Harbert Realty Services Inc. is planning to build the development on the east side of U.S. 31 slightly south of Shelby Baptist. Once completed, the development will be between U.S. 31 and Second Street Northeast.

According to plans submitted to the city, the development will include building space for medical offices, retail tenants and restaurants.

The center will have access points from U.S. 31 and Second Street Northeast.

Harbert Realty Services Vice President of Retail Development James Proctor, who is working to develop the Alabaster site, said the company will close on the property on Nov. 20, and will begin work on the development soon afterward.

On Nov. 4, Proctor said he already has multiple tenants signed to the development, and is working to finalize a few more before announcing the center’s tenant lineup.

Harbert Realty also developed the Chace Lake shopping center in Hoover. The Alabaster development likely will include “fast-casual” restaurants “that will be all-new to Alabaster,” Proctor said previously. The Alabaster development is set to open in the third quarter of 2016.

Plans call for the retail and restaurant space to front U.S. 31, while the medical office space will be close to Second Street Northeast. Through an agreement with the developer, Alabaster is looking to make improvements along Second Street Northeast, including new sidewalks, to promote pedestrian traffic between the hospital and the development.

Alabaster is considering a tax incentives package for the new development similar to the package it offered to the Dick’s Sporting Goods development in 2014, and is set to vote on the agreement on Nov. 9. The incentive package is tied to the city’s sales tax, and uses a tiered system over a 10-year period.

If approved, Alabaster will reimburse the developer for 90 percent the city sales tax collected at the development during the first year the center store is open. The city will keep 5 percent more of the sales tax revenue collected each year through the 10th year the center is in operation. Alabaster’s 1-cent sales tax earmarked for schools will not be included in the incentives package.