The new owners of coastal Alabama's only enclosed regional shopping mall received a 15-year, $7.5 million sales tax incentive Tuesday by the Mobile City Council.

Rouse Properties, which spent $135 million in 2014 to purchase the 50-year-old Bel Air Mall - renamed as the Shoppes at Bel Air - will get up to $500,000 annually. The New York-based company will only receive the tax rebate if the mall generates 10 percent more sales than it did last year.

"The last thing we went to see is a dead mall in the center of our city," Council President Gina Gregory said. "This is the only inside mall in our area. Bel Air Mall is important to us."

She said the city wants avoid having a large mall in similar condition as other enclosed and abandoned malls elsewhere in Alabama that were showcased through a series of slideshows on AL.com.

"I'm delighted it passed," Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson said after the council voted 5-2 to support the incentive deal. "A whole lot of work has gone into that mall to make sure it doesn't go dark."

But the ongoing construction at the mall, which started last year, prompted Councilman C.J. Small to vote against the incentive. Also voting "No" was Councilwoman Bess Rich.

A Rouse Properties official declined to comment after the vote.

Rouse Properties is currently renovating the exterior and portions inside the mall and plans on investing $25 million for a variety of fixes and additions that include new restaurants such as P.F. Chang's and Grimaldi's Pizzeria and fashion retailer H&M.

Anchoring the new-look mall will be a 237,000-square-foot flagship Belk that will be located inside the former Sears, which is now closed. It's a melding of two existing Belk stores - one at Bel Air and another at nearby Springdale Mall.

Rouse is also on the hook to find a new major anchor tenant and to draw in tenants new to Mobile rather than merely persuading businesses that are already in the city to relocate there.

Paul Wesch, the city's executive director of finance, said last month that city officials and Rouse Properties had been in discussions for about a year over the incentive plan.

Said Small: "If this agreement was at the beginning of the project, I'd consider voting on it today. But, to me, with these businesses already under construction and already moving forward, the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer."

Rich and Small said they were concerned about the council creating an "unfair advantage" for other shopping centers in Mobile. Also, Rich criticized Rouse Properties for receiving a tax subsidy despite not having any corporate ties to the Mobile area.

Council proponents for the incentive said the tax break was needed to thwart future disinvestment in property that is among the most visible in Mobile.

Other council members defended the incentive's benchmarks which prohibit Rouse Properties from receiving sales taxes if overall sales at the mall languish.

"It is an economic development project that is proven viable by the facts of the numbers," Councilman John Williams said. "They can't get a thing unless they are successful."

Said Councilman Joel Daves: "We, as a city, ought to do everything we can to help make their operation successful."

Rich, meanwhile, expressed concerns about the council establishing a precedent with providing incentives for shopping centers.

"I do hope this council, along with the administration, will come up with a plan with the incentives," she said. "Once we open this door, there will be other (shopping center owners) who are not at the table who will want to protect their tenants from being whisked away and from losing their tenant base."

Daves and Gregory said each economic incentive package the city works on will be evaluated on a "case-by-case" basis. The council, in recent years, has doled out incentives to help developers build the new McGowin Park at Government Boulevard and I-65 and to help redevelop the Westwood shopping plaza in west Mobile.

"The city has offered, in the past, economic development incentives for retail development," Daves said. "In each one, we needed to look at that particular facility and determine ... if it was appropriate in that case. You cannot take a cookie-cutter approach to it."

Small also expressed concerns about Springdale Mall, which is located across from Airport Boulevard from Bel Air. Springdale will lose its Belk store once Bel Air's new Belk opens.

Springdale has suffered tenant losses over the years and its enclosed portion is abandoned and inaccessible to shoppers. Springdale, opened since 1959, continues to lure shoppers but only to its outdoor anchors facing Airport.

Springdale, owned by Brixmor Property Group of New York, has not approached the city with any redevelopment or expansion plans. A spokeswoman told AL.com last month that they are reviewing options for the center.

"We have struggling shopping centers that need help," Small said. "If they come to the city or the administration, will we be giving them a tax rebate?"