Council OKs Baseball Deal

Posted by Downtown Reno Development Feed on August 29, 2007 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

I was able to watch part of the meeting, mostly where Jessica Sferrazza had serious concerns about moving the fire station….the current fire station allows for a time of 1:10 minutes of arrival to Wells Ave, and if it were moved the two remaining stations have about a 3:00 arrival time, yet still under their protocols for response time. In the financial part of the deal, the City really seemed to have covered itself in this case. There are various clauses included to cover the City; in case the team leaves early, the City won’t get stuck with the mortgage on the stadium, and from what I gathered if the retail portion isn’t built, the developers don’t get the $2 million a year that would otherwise go to redevelopment property taxes. The tax breaks are completely related to the retail portion, not the stadium. So in this deal, the city would gain a baseball stadium and shopping district that could revitalize the east end of downtown. The main thing the city is giving up in this case is land, and having to pay back a $10 million loan from the developers for a new fire station. One interesting note is one of the parcels Sienna Communities would get is the Men’s Club. I know a lot of people are griping about it, but I don’t have a problem giving them the $20 million or so from county car rental taxes which can only be used for certain things anyway.