City seeks Carroll County's incremental TAD support for $58 million downtown gateway project; city to front $2.25M repayable from future increments

City of Carrollton officials presented a redevelopment plan for the gateway to downtown and asked the Carroll County Board of Commissioners to allow the county's tax increment from the project's parcels to be used to repay a $2.25 million upfront contribution the city will provide to the developer.

David Brooks (City of Carrollton) and Will Garrett (developer representative) described a roughly $58 million all‑in project centered on the corner of Alabama Street and U.S. 27. The application envisions a 99‑room Hilton Home2 Suites, approximately 80 multifamily units (studio, 1‑ and 2‑bedroom), about 17,000 square feet of retail (the city is seeking to reserve about 4,000 sq ft for a possible museum), a pedestrianized North Cliff Street, and a city‑owned parking deck and an expanded conference center connected to the Cultural Arts Center. The city said it will fund the parking deck and the conference center addition; no TAD funds will be used for those city‑owned components.

Brooks said the development agreement contemplates the city advancing $2,250,000 up front to the developer from city reserves and recouping that amount from the TAD increments attributable to the hotel and the mixed‑use parcels once the project is complete. The city said the applicant did not request the maximum TAD allowance under local guidelines (20 percent of development cost) and that the project would not be financed with TAD‑backed bonds. The city described a worksheet and verification process (via the tax commissioner) that will identify the portion of increment attributable to the county, city and school system each year.

An outside consultant (KB Advisory Group) projected an annual incremental tax increase in the first years after completion of about $477,000; Brooks said the TAD sunsets Dec. 31, 2038, and if the city has not recouped the full $2.25 million by that date, the city bears the loss. If the city repays itself early, remaining increment would go into the city's special TAD fund until the sunset date, after which tax revenue from the parcels would revert to the county, city and school system.

Will Garrett presented site renderings and described a five‑level parking deck with 409 spaces (110 reserved for the hotel, 125 for the multifamily development, and 174 public spaces). Garrett said the city and developer have scrutinized parking capacity and will mark spaces and manage public access; he said the deck adds about 13–14 percent more parking downtown compared with existing inventory.

City officials said Carrollton Redevelopment Authority and Carrollton City School Board have approved the request and asked the county to consider placing the county's increment participation on the consent agenda for formal action at the Tuesday meeting. Commissioners asked for additional materials (sales‑tax projections and more detailed occupancy/market comparables) before voting; several commissioners said they wanted more time to review the materials and planned to vote at the Tuesday regular meeting rather than decide at the work session.