Heer's, College Station taxing districts move forward

It took another step in the right direction at the Jan. 23 Springfield City Council meeting.

The council held the first reading on a bill to create Heer's Tower Community Improvement District. By forming a CID strictly for the redevelopment of the Springfield landmark, the city can charge an additional 1 percent in sales taxes on purchases in the district. That goes along with a soon-to-be-approved transportation development district, which would add another 1 percent tax on purchases.

Council will vote on the Heer's CID at its Feb. 6 meeting.

Council also had its first reading on the cooperative agreement between the city and Springfield Office Building LLC, the company created for the $20 million Heer's project by Columbia developer Vaughn X. Prost.

Progress also continues on the $17 million College Station development, as council unanimously approved a CID for College Station and had a public hearing on the cooperative agreement necessary for the development.

Economic Development Director Mary Lilly Smith said that while the two developments are separate, the financing generally works in the same fashion for both.

The developers have agreed to pay the debt service on the parking garages in their developments, and in exchange, the city puts the money from the extra CID and transportation development district taxes back into the developments in the form of upkeep and infrastructure improvements.

Smith said that while there already is a downtown CID in place, incorporating the two developments into the existing district wasn't feasible.

“You couldn't really incorporate it into the existing CID downtown, because it would have involved getting all of the other property owners to sign on,” she said. “They're a totally different animal than the downtown CID - it's purely a financing mechanism. It's more like what we did at Airport Plaza or Chestnut Crossing.”

Those projects also have CIDs in place, approved by the city last year.

Bonds for the two parking facilities cannot be issued until all the financing mechanisms are in place, Smith said, and there are steps still remaining in that process.

The Heer's transportation development district is in circuit court awaiting approval - TDDs, by statute, are not approved by the city but rather by the court. Smith said that process should be complete within the next month.

College Station, meanwhile, awaits city and state approval of the Chapter 353 Redevelopment Plan, which is necessary to facilitate the aforementioned financing plan. The TDD also has not been approved; Smith said she expected developer Scott Tillman would be filing that paperwork with the court sometime this week.

The College Station development is expected to open in the fall, while the Heer's Tower parking facility should be complete by the end of the year.

Council will vote on College Station's cooperative agreement Feb. 6.