The newly created Chattanooga-Hamilton County Sports Authority convened this week to kick off the process of constructing a new $72 million multi-use stadium, a project that is expected to catalyze hundreds of millions of dollars in development across the South Broad district.
The revitalization will conservatively generate $40 million in new tax revenue for schools, and millions more for infrastructure and quality-of-life improvements throughout the district and beyond, based on cautious estimates of $350 million in new development. The project is expected to yield more than $1 billion in new homes, offices and stores.
Developers have already agreed to construct $170 million in new housing in the first phase of the project, which in later phases will grow to encompass the full 120 acres of developable land that was formerly home to the U.S. Pipe and Wheland Foundry plants.
Nearby, the Tennessee Department of Transportation is making headway in its efforts to open up a new off-ramp from I-24 to access the site. At the same time, discussions are underway with neighborhood groups on a package of community benefits that will help preserve affordable housing in the surrounding areas and create a pipeline for local workers to participate in both construction and post-construction jobs.
The project is being funded in part through an economic development tool called tax increment financing (TIF), which leverages the growth in tax collections resulting from new development to help fund public projects. All current tax revenue will be collected and distributed as usual, but a portion of new tax revenue will be set aside to pay down the stadium bonds.
Once the debt service on the stadium is satisfied, monies from the project will go to create the Alton Park Connector, which for the first time will create access from a historic interior neighborhood to the city’s waterfront.
The Sports Authority board includes Randy Smith, Matt Patterson, John Shearburn, Mitch Patel, Rudolph Foster, Edna Varner and Ann Weeks. On Tuesday, the board elected officers, adopted bylaws, and adopted the interlocal agreement between Chattanooga and Hamilton County that articulates the financial relationship among Hamilton County, the City of Chattanooga, and the Sports Authority for the costs of debt service on the stadium. John Shearburn was elected as chair.
Future meetings will be held to issue the bonds that will finance the construction of the $72 million stadium. Those bonds will be paid back primarily by the new property tax revenues generated by new buildings constructed on the currently blighted site.