SELMA -- A development firm says it might need $15 million in incentives to build Eastfield Commons, a mix of shops and offices near the Holiday Inn Express on U.S. 70-A.

Kevin Dougherty, chief executive of AdVenture Development LLC, said his firm might need that kind of money to lure tenants such as Target and Dick’s Sporting Goods.

“We’re proposing incentives that would allow us to fund infrastructure needs, make some traffic improvements and induce some tenants,” Dougherty told the Selma Town Council last week. “We’re going to front all those incentives. What we’re looking for in return is a resolution to reimburse us for what we’ll spend.”

A draft of that resolution says AdVenture would receive 60 percent of sales-tax receipts from Eastfield Commons for 15 years. The 15 years would begin two years after the project reaches 250,000 square feet, or roughly one-quarter of its hoped-for size. Also under the resolution, AdVenture would get back the property taxes paid on the project.

Should Eastfield Commons reach 1 million square feet, the project would eclipse Carolina Premium Outlets in Smithfield, Dougherty said. Selma is well positioned for such a project, he added.

“It’s kind of a unique place,” he said. “It’s the one place in the county where all the major roads come together. No other city [in North Carolina] is built right up on the interstate except for Smithfield and Selma.”

“There are advantages to that, and we want to capitalize on that both for the city’s tax base and to make a successful project,” Dougherty added.

For their part, the Town Council members seemed smitten with Dougherty’s proposal. Mayor Charles Hester, himself a developer in Selma, called the project a potential boon to the local economy that came with “no risk.”

“The thing about it is that we’re not going to be borrowing old money to pay for incentives,” he said. “We’ll be paying for them with new money that’s generated once the project is here. You can’t get any better than that.”

Still, Councilman Eric Sellers expressed reservations about the amount of money AdVenture wants to recoup from the county and from Selma. Specifically, Sellers said he preferred to refund a lower percentage of property taxes. AdVenture wants 100 percent of any taxes paid over the current amount paid on the land. Sellers said he preferred something in the 80 to 90 percent range.

At the same time, Sellers was enthusiastic about Eastfield Commons, which is likely to also include medical and professional offices, an assisted-living center, hotels and restaurants. “When you start looking at the numbers and the potential, this is easily the biggest thing we’ve looked at in my short tenure,” Sellers said.

Hester agreed. “When we build this thing, local people will spend more of their money locally, and those hired for the jobs this project would bring will also spend locally,” he said. “So to quantify all the dollars and cents this thing brings, it’s so substantial. It’s a great opportunity for us to be a part of this.”