There’s a lot to like about the proposed deal the Denver Urban Renewal Authority has worked out to bring a Target store to Tamarac Square.

The city incurs no financial risk; the project would come with 150 to 200 permanent jobs; and after the $5 million tax-increment-financing (TIF) costs are repaid with the city share of sales taxes from the Target store, Denver would get a much-needed boost to its sales tax revenues.

The questions that remain, as we see them, are ones for residents and businesses in that southeast Denver neighborhood. Is Target a good fit for the area? Would traffic from a store such as Target be overwhelming? Would it bring customers to nearby businesses that have suffered from diminished sales in recent years?

We hope, as the Target proposal goes through five public meetings in the coming weeks, that there is thorough and thoughtful consideration of these issues as well as the financial points of the deal.

From where we sit, the economics of the deal seem favorable to the city. Tracy Huggins, executive director of the Denver Urban Renewal Authority (DURA), briefed us on the proposal.

Huggins said Target approached DURA last August for help closing a financing gap on the proposed store project. The costs of site preparation — issues with drainage and the grade at the property — had boosted the pricetag for developing the project.

Huggins said Target is admittedly a company with deep pockets, but one that considers the viability of each individual project on its financial merits. Bottom line: Without taxpayer help, this one would not be built.

The deal, as proposed, would have Target paying the $5 million site preparation costs up front. Target would be repaid, with interest, with sales tax money paid by customers who buy goods at that Target.

The terms of the agreement call for the $5 million to be repaid within a decade.

But Huggins said the estimated $950,000 to $1 million annually in sales tax revenue generated by the store would have the costs paid back much more quickly — in perhaps five years. If for some reason the estimates are wrong and sales tax doesn’t add up to $5 million within 10 years, it’s Target that is on the hook — not DURA.

From a broader standpoint, it’s clear Denver could use the sales tax revenue. It has long been recognized that Denver’s sales tax base, an important part of city revenue, has not grown fast enough to keep up with the increasing cost of city services.

To be sure, $1 million annually, after the TIF is paid back, would be a small addition to the $400 million the city collects each year in sales and use taxes. But it’s a step in the right direction and it’s money the city otherwise wouldn’t have.

We hope interested parties will keep that in mind as the Target proposal faces what is sure to be intense scrutiny in the coming weeks.