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Council hears plan to shift Park and Popular bond to developer-backed financing, allowing future land transfer
Summary
Westfield staff presented ordinance 26-21 to replace city-backed bonds with developer-backed financing for the Park and Popular project, enabling a land transfer of a parking garage at closing; staff said the structure reduces taxpayer risk and preserves the city's bonded capacity.
City staff on April 13 outlined a financing change for the Park and Popular development that would replace a previously authorized city-backed tax-increment-financing (TIF) bond with a developer-backed bond and allow a future land transfer for a privately owned parking garage.
Janelle Fehrman, executive chief of economic and community development, said the developer requested the change to enable the transfer of the parking-garage land at closing. "This would be a change from a city-backed bond which is a risk to the taxpayers so it is using the city's credit to a developer backed bond which is backed by the developer credit," Fehrman said, adding that the swap "is an advantage to the city because the developers [are] on the hook for all of the payments on that bond."
Fehrman provided project-level numbers: staff described the overall developer project as approximately $123 million, with a current base assessed value near $975,000 and a future estimated assessed value around $60 million; long-term TIF revenue was estimated at about $1.5 million annually at the end of the TIF life, with an estimated annual school-referral payment of roughly $140,000.
Councilors asked how the change would affect public access and parking oversight if the garage is privately owned. Staff replied that easements and recorded deal terms would preserve public parking access, and that the developer plans to provide roughly three hours of free public parking—consistent with nearby Union Square—managed under the same operator to limit fee increases and management costs.
Fehrman said other project terms remain the same, including the project's inclusion in a 25-year TIF area. Staff also noted that the land intended for the parking garage is currently owned by the Downtown Westfield CDC, and that the land transfer would occur at the construction-loan closing per the developer's financing requirements.
The ordinance was introduced for consideration and will be eligible for adoption at the council's April 27 meeting; no final vote was taken on April 13.
Why it matters: Changing the underwriting from a city-backed to a developer-backed bond shifts repayment risk away from taxpayers and can preserve the city’s borrowing capacity, while the land transfer and private ownership raise practical questions about long-term public access and oversight.
