Jordan Valley TIF commission discusses land uses

The Jordan Valley Tax Increment Financing Commission met Monday afternoon to discuss plans for the 1.7 acres of vacant land between the Springfield Expo Center and the Jordan Valley Car Park, on St. Louis Street.

The original plan for the property was a downtown arena, but that changed when developer John Q. Hammons put his backing behind Missouri State University’s new athletics arena instead. Construction began for the on-campus JQH Arena in December.

The TIF commission was presented with three likely scenarios for the land, and the potential tax revenue that each could generate.

• The first scenario is an office development. An example four-story building with 80,000 square feet of building space would be assessed at $2.7 million and create $300,000 in sales.

• A second scenario, a 20,000-square-foot retail development, would be assessed at $864,000 and would generate $4 million in sales.

• The third scenario, a hotel, would be assessed at $2.8 million and generate $3.4 million in sales.

Those property and sales figures are important, as the TIF district would capture 100 percent of the increase in property tax and 50 percent of the increase in sales-and-use tax for the development.

The next step in the process is figuring out who should develop the property; the city has sent requests for proposals, with a deadline of Feb. 20. Development ideas do not have to fall into one of the three presented scenarios.

The commission will hear presentations from interested developers Feb. 26, so that it can meet March 5 to choose a proposal to recommend to Springfield City Council.[[In-content Ad]]