Delaware City school board hears city pitch for AAA Blue Jackets arena and 30-year TIF; board to consider consent June 23

City of Delaware officials and representatives of the Ohio AAA Blue Jackets presented a plan June 12 to the Delaware City School Board proposing a three-rink training facility, a 6,000-seat summer concert pavilion and related development on about 270 donated acres at the corner of Sawmill Road and U.S. 42.

The presentation, led by Ed Ginger, president of the Ohio AAA Blue Jackets, and Josiah Huber of Diperna Advisors, laid out an approximate $58 million development that organizers say would be funded primarily by philanthropy and a private entertainment operator, construction loans, and a proposed local tax-increment financing (TIF) bond issued by the Delaware County Finance Authority. Huber described the capital stack and financing terms being discussed with local officials.

The project team said philanthropy and a contribution from a major entertainment operator would together cover roughly 60% of the project. They said planners expect to secure about a quarter of the total through construction loans and to finance the remaining roughly 15% through local support, including a proposed 30-year, 100% TIF bond. Josiah Huber said the TIF bonds would be issued by the Delaware County Finance Authority and “secured and payable solely from TIF revenues generated by the arena as well as the pavilion sites.”

Why it matters: the board must weigh whether a TIF that diverts tax increments for decades is worth projected long-term benefits to the school district and the community. City staff said the site currently generates about $1,200 a year for the school district in the status quo and that the arena-and-amphitheater scenario would produce about $3.2 million in net revenues for the school district over a 30-year period, after accounting for base value taxes, TIF pilot payments and a…