Burbank Lures a Bullock’s : Malls: Through creative financing, the city will also pay construction costs with increased tax revenues and rent.

After more than 10 years of trying to woo an upscale department store to Burbank, the City Council on Tuesday cleared the way for construction of a Bullock’s in the city’s downtown mall.

Council members unanimously approved minor changes to the original plan for the 41-acre Media City Mall project that will allow inclusion of the three-level, 240,000-square-foot department store.

City officials have long believed an upscale store such as Bullock’s was needed to round out the mall, which is viewed as the cornerstone of revitalization of downtown Burbank. The developers of the mall, convinced that they could attract such a store to the site, left space for it and included it in the project’s environmental analyses.

Had no store been wooed to the center, the space would have been used for an office tower.

Bullock’s announced its intention to locate a store in the mall earlier this year, but because the company wanted it to be larger than had been planned, the City Council was required to amend the project’s original plan. The changes include reconfiguring an adjacent parking structure and enlarging the project by 115,354 square feet.

Through some creative financing, the city will end up paying Bullock’s construction costs with increased tax revenues and rental payments.

According to city documents, Bullock’s will build the store at its own expense but will sell it to the Haagen Co., the mall’s developer, for no more than $33 million, the expected cost to Bullock’s.

The city in turn will acquire the store from Haagen in return for a $33-million promissory note that will be paid with a combination of rent from Bullock’s, sales tax revenues from a portion of the mall and a portion of increased property taxes on the mall. If the city still owes money to Haagen in 2016, all debts will be forgiven.

In addition, the city will pay for an $18.5-million parking structure with increased tax revenues from the project.

Assistant City Manager Steven Helvey said such deals are not uncommon.