Inclusion of development caught some council members off guard
Council members John Cooper, Jeremy Elrod and Davette
Blalock each pressed the administration for more information about the
development — and justification for it — during the mayor’s kick-off
presentation of the project Monday.
Its inclusion
comes as Barry has received pushback over a similar concept: a proposal
to contract a private development team to redevelop the Metro-owned
Greer Stadium property into a mix of creative space, housing, retail and
green space called Cloud Hill.
“I was surprised,”
Elrod said. “I thought this was a soccer stadium deal — and then we’ve
got a whole housing/private development component to a fairgrounds
revitalization that I didn’t think would be coming.
“It’s
to help them make this endeavor more profitable for them, and that’s
giving me heartburn,” he added. “I thought we were building an MLS
stadium out of wanting to a get a team here and not necessarily to help
the team owners make more money.”
.....
Under Barry’s stadium financing plan, Metro would issue up to $225
million in revenue bonds for the stadium and an additional $25 million
in general obligation bonds for upgrades to the fairgrounds
infrastructure, including streetscape work and new buildings to replace
dilapidated structures that would be torn down. (link)
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