Plans for a proposed Indy Eleven stadium have advanced, as the Indiana Senate has approved a bill that would provide a funding mechanism for the facility.
USL Championship‘s Indy Eleven is proposing the construction of a new stadium that could host an MLS expansion club, with the facility anchoring a larger development initative known as Eleven Park. Eleven Park would include $400 million in privately financed mixed-use development, but the club has been seeking public funding for a new stadium estimated at $150 million.
On Tuesday, the state senate voted 48-1 to approve Senate Bill 7–which would also provide a funding mechanism for projects at other facilities, including renovations to Bankers Life Fieldhouse for the NBA’s Pacers. As it relates to Indy Eleven, the legislation would allow revenue from a special taxing district around the facility to go toward paying off debt from the stadium. It does come with some contingencies, however, including a stipulation that the club fronts 20% of the stadium’s cost and joins MLS by 2022. More from the Indianapolis Star:
To build the stadium, the legislation would allow the Indy Eleven to use up to $8 million per year for 25 years from a special taxing district around the team’s proposed $550 million redevelopment. That’s a change from the team’s initial proposal, which would have raised up to $11 million a year for 32 years in property, income, sales and innkeepers’ taxes, according to state fiscal analysts.
Indy Eleven majority owner Ersal Ozdemir, who runs the development company Keystone Group, has proposed the $550 million redevelopment called Eleven Park, which would include $400 million in private investment in restaurants, shops, offices and apartments at a to-be-decided location, as well as the $150 million stadium and other public investments.
Ozdemir and his group have not commented on whether they can raise 20 percent of the cost for a new stadium. Spokesman Tim Phelps has said the ownership group will continue to work on the bill.
“We will continue to work with legislators and all stakeholders to make the Eleven Park vision a reality,” he said, “and to secure the future of the world’s most popular sport in Indiana – with no new taxes and no appropriations from city or state governments.”
Now that the bill has cleared the senate, it will go before the House Ways and Means Committee for its consideration. A site for Eleven Park has not been finalized.
Rendering courtesy Indy Eleven.