In 2013, the Legislature passed a measure creating a “cultural retail attraction”  incentive to reimburse developers of outlet malls for up to 30 percent of construction costs.

The bill aided Yates Construction and its affiliate Spectrum Capital, the firms that built the Outlets of Mississippi in Pearl. Those firms were reimbursed to the tune of $24 million, almost a third of the $80 million outlet mall’s total cost.

It’s hard to keep a good government subsidy secret. Two other developers, one in north Mississippi and one on the coast, got on the bandwagon. Memphis developers are approved to receive a $34 million state subsidy for their planned Outlets Shops of the Mid-South in Southaven. New York’s CBL and Associates has been approved for a $96 million subsidy for its Gulf Coast Galleria in D’Iberville.

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