a special tax zone<\/a>\u00a0to buy land for a new Spurs arena downtown and\u00a0pay for upgrades at the San Antonio Zoo, Botanical Garden and Brackenridge Park.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn-channels-pixel.ex.co\/events\/0012000001fxZm9AAE?integrationType=DEFAULT&template=design%2Farticle%2Fplatypus_two_column.tpl\")
<\/p>\n
But after a debate over whether such zones have created privileged islands of investment in one of the nation\u2019s poorest cities, council members said they were considering ending the Midtown Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone early \u2014 turning off the spigot of money that helped make the upscale Pearl district and the area around it successful.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
However, they did so as they agreed to add nearly two decades to the life of the Midtown zone, extending the end date for it from 2041 to 2060.<\/p>\n
In a 7-2 vote with two abstentions, council members directed city staff to draw up a new financing plan to pay for current projects and evaluate whether the Midtown TIRZ can end before 2060.\u00a0Mayor Gina\u00a0Ortiz Jones and Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez voted against the proposal, while council members Teri Castillo and Ric Galvan abstained.<\/p>\n
\u201cExtending this TIRZ and some of the things that are being considered is modern-day redlining,\u201d Jones said. Redlining is the historical practice of restricting loans and financial services in neighborhoods because minority residents lived there.<\/p>\n
Council members were divided over whether to tap the Midtown TIRZ for the land for the Spurs arena and nonprofits\u2019 requests. And they clashed over the decision to increase the term of a zone that was created to attract private investment to what was a blighted area around the former Pearl Brewery two decades ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
The $60 million the city will pay\u00a0for the former Institute of Texan Cultures property for the arena is in addition to the $489 million the city is contributing to construction of the facility.<\/p>\n
Opponents said the NBA franchise should pay for the land, and that property tax revenue locked in the zone should instead flow to the city\u2019s general fund to pay for basic services, such as fire and police protection. But supporters said council members endorsed\u00a0the land purchase more than a year ago when they approved a draft financing agreement with the Spurs.<\/p>\n
Council\u2019s decision to fund the arena land acquisition and nonprofit\u2019s projects, extend the life span of the Midtown zone and determine whether to end it earlier than 2060 was the result of a convoluted compromise by Councilman Edward Mungia.<\/p>\n
Councilwoman Sukh Kaur also tacked on an amendment to examine whether Midtown TIRZ money could be used for affordable housing.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
City staff will return to council members with the new plan at a future date.<\/p>\n
The city plans to use $60 million to acquire the land for the arena from the University of Texas at San Antonio, with another $55 million going to financing costs for issuing debt. The financing expenses would be that high in part because of 25-year repayment terms on the debt, according to a city spokesman.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The zoo, garden and Brackenridge Park Conservancy would receive $10 million each, with another $20.6 million allocated for financing costs.\u00a0The nonprofits will receive the funds\u00a0after they have raised matching dollars.<\/p>\n
The Botanical Garden will use the money to build classrooms and a seed bank and lab, while the zoo will put it toward an education building, animal hospital and infrastructure upgrades to expand west of U.S. 281.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
The conservancy will devote the money to restoring the Sunken Garden Theater\u00a0and hosting more events and tours.<\/p>\n
The city created the River North TIRZ in 2006 and the Midtown zone in 2008 before merging the two in 2012 to help spur private investment in what was at the time a blighted area. Developers received funds to build sidewalks and streets for apartments and offices at Pearl and near it.<\/p>\n
In 2022, city officials shifted the focus of the zone to funding improvements at the zoo, Brackenridge Park, garden and Witte Museum. The attractions and the arena property are not in the Midtown TIRZ, but the zone can be used to pay for affordable housing and places of public assembly outside the its boundaries.<\/p>\n
The Midtown TIRZ\u2019s coffers have ballooned as a result of Pearl\u2019s makeover and the building boom it set off in the area.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
As property values rise within the zone, the increased property tax revenue is used to reimburse developers and nonprofits for certain improvements. The money is largely locked within the zone; otherwise, the tax revenue would flow to the city\u2019s general fund, which pays for basic services such as police, fire and libraries.<\/p>\n
City officials project the zone will collect $913.9 million through 2060, with some $600 million available for projects aside from those they approved Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A rendering released by the City of San Antonio shows what a downtown sports and entertainment district could…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432192,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[82,84,83],"class_list":["post-432191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}