DeWitt and his partners are also proposing a development around Ballpark Village, which they say would generate about $22 million for the city and the state by 2011. The development calls for 400 housing units, 400,000 sf of office space and 135,000 sf of retail and restaurant space. Also proposed is a museum and aquarium. The development would be separate from the stadium and no developers have yet to come forth.
DeWitt was successful in a stadium venture a decade ago when he and partners, including now President George W. Bush, convinced Texas taxpayers to build a new stadium for the Rangers. After constructing a $135-million stadium, the owners sold the team a few years later for a profit of more than $200 million.
Now, DeWitt and his partners are offering $100 million and land valued at $20 million. They are asking Missouri taxpayers to contribute the remaining $250 million.
The plan for public financing includes selling 30-year tax-exempt bonds and then pay them off with existing taxes generated by the stadium. These taxes would otherwise go to Missouri and St. Louis. The proposal would need state and local government approval.
Last year, taxes generated at the 35-year-old stadium amounted to about $9 million in tax revenue for St. Louis and about $5 million for Missouri, according to a spokesperson with the St. Louis Development Council.
Under the proposed plan, the state would relinquish all its sales tax revenue from the stadium until the bonds are paid. St. Louis would lose the difference between what is made now and what would be made from the new stadium.
It is estimated that in the year 2011, that amount would be about $7 million for Missouri and $4.7 million for St. Louis.
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