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Jefferson City holds hearing on Christie Drive TIF and CID package that would fund 42-acre redevelopment
Summary
City staff, the city's financial advisor and the developer described a 42-acre Christie Drive redevelopment that includes a donated 21-acre athletic complex and about $9.1 million in public incentives; the city's consultant said the project likely would not proceed without incentives and council set final consideration for Jan. 6.
The Jefferson City Council heard more than an hour of presentations and questions on a proposed Christie Drive redevelopment that would use tax increment financing and a community improvement district to subsidize preparation of roughly 42 acres of a former quarry for retail, lodging and office development.
City special counsel Joe Lauber outlined the legal framework for the TIF plan and the four related ordinances the council will consider: approval of the TIF plan, authorization of the TIF contract, approval of a Community Improvement District petition and a cooperative agreement tying the city, CID and developer together. Lauber told the council the TIF Commission recommended the plan and that staff believes the statutory findings can be made.
The city's independent financial consultant, Colby Krasinowski of Baker Tilly, told the council his firm ran a "but-for" analysis — a test of whether a private developer could proceed under current market conditions without public incentives — and concluded that, without the requested incentives, the project would not be financially viable. Krasinowski said the negative internal rate of return without incentives was driven in part by the developer's donation of land for the soccer complex and the site remediation and grading required on the former quarry.
Ben Muscholt, representing developer Land Investments LLC, said the project anticipates pad-ready infrastructure for a hotel (100–150 rooms), an office pad, a 50,000–65,000-square-foot retail center and multiple restaurants. He emphasized that the developer intends to donate 21 acres to United Capital City Soccer for athletic fields as part of the package and that much of the initial site work is already underway. "We cannot move forward with this project unless there are public incentives," Muscholt said.
Lauber and Muscholt described the incentives as a pay-as-you-go TIF (about $7.3 million in PILOTS and sales-tax capture) plus a proposed 1 percent CID sales tax estimated to generate another roughly $1.8 million, for a combined net-present-value incentive package of about $9.1 million. Lauber said staff made the incentive reimbursements contingent on the donor transfer of the 21 acres to the soccer club.
Council members asked about the relationship between the soccer donation and the TIF/CID revenues, environmental due diligence, the project's projected completion timeline and whether the developer could return later seeking additional incentives. Krasinowski said the consultant omitted the donated land value from its pro forma and noted that the internal rate of return without incentives was negative; he also said his analysis depends on projections and publicly available market comparables.
No members of the public testified in opposition during the record. After the presentations and questions the mayor closed the TIF public hearing and staff said the four ordinances would remain at first reading and be scheduled for final action on Jan. 6. The hearing record and consultants' reports are included in the council's packet.
What's next: The council will take final votes on the TIF plan, the TIF contract, the CID petition and the cooperative agreement at the Jan. 6 meeting; staff asked council members to submit follow-up questions before that date.
