TERS board backs city incentives for Film Alley entertainment center

The TERS (Tax Increment Refinance/Development) boards for Terrell voted to approve a resolution supporting an entertainment and event venue proposed behind Film Alley by Schulman Partners, including a 10-year arrangement that would return up to 75% of city maintenance-and-operations property tax revenues to the project.

City staff presented an aerial and site plan showing the venue behind Film Alley and described supporting public improvements, including a bridge across a drainage funded in part by a Texas Parks and Wildlife grant. The staff member said the planned park area is “not quite 1 and a half acres,” and outlined space for a playground, concert lawn and restrooms. The venue design presented would seat roughly 1,000 people in the concert area, with the option to rent adjoining park land to expand capacity to about 2,000, and would include a two-story restaurant overlooking the concert space.

The resolution asks the TERS boards to permit the city’s economic package to include a city-level property tax participation limited to 75% of city M&O (maintenance and operations) taxes for 10 years, and to allow the City Council to pursue other incentives separately. The staff member said, “we've got adequate funds for the big payments out of this,” referring to the Hotel Event Center Fund where the city has reserved dollars for event-center projects.

City staff detailed line items that would be paid from the Hotel Event Center Fund or other city sources if the project meets conditions: a marketing incentive of $45,000; parking-related construction payments (presented in the packet as roughly a half-million-dollar parking incentive); a reimbursement of $100,000 for AV improvements; design-reimbursement up to $85,000; and a potential $300,000 payment connected to construction of a dynamic billboard (the city would receive a portion of billboard advertising rights). Staff said the packet describes how those items would be funded from existing Hotel Event Center Fund balances and from new revenue generated by the project.

Board member Dina asked about the aggregate dollar amounts reported in the packet; staff walked members through the packet slides and the city obligations table to explain how the various incentives and reimbursements are structured.

The board made a motion to approve item 6.2 as written; the motion was seconded and the chair called the voice vote. The motion passed by voice vote (counts not specified in the transcript).

The board’s approval is a recommendation to Council for the city-level participation described; City Council retains authority over other incentives noted in the packet and must take its own action to finalize the full incentive package.