The city’s Board of Aldermen approved St. Louis MLS stadium legislation by a wide margin Friday, solidifying some important aspects of the project.
Earlier this month, two bills were introduced at the city level to help advance plans for the stadium, which is slated to be part of a larger development initiative west of Union Station in downtown St. Louis. The pieces of legislation, which would secure partial property tax abatement and other tax incentives, received a committee endorsement two weeks ago, showing an early sign of support for bills that ultimately cleared the board with a strong consensus in favor.
In final votes Friday, the full Board of Aldermen passed both bills by a 22-1 margin. More from the St. Louis Business Journal:
The approvals pave the way for subsidies, including partial tax abatement, sales tax exemption on construction materials, amusement tax abatement and special taxing districts that would impose a 1% sales tax. The taxing districts will require additional legislation….
The ownership group, MLS4TheLou, said in a statement following the vote:
“The decision by the Board of Aldermen to pass the two bills, sponsored by Lewis Reed and co-sponsored by 17 aldermen and alderwomen, related to our stadium district is another significant milestone towards making our vision for Downtown West a reality. We’re incredibly thankful for all the city officials who have worked with us tirelessly over the last 15 months on a fair plan that combines a large private investment and site-specific user taxes with our ownership group assuming all future risk for this development by owning the stadium and land. This is another exciting day for the fans, city and region as we get closer to our team taking the pitch for the 2022 MLS season.”
The overall $461-million project will primarily financed through private dollars from the club’s ownership group, which features members of Enterprise Holding’s Taylor family—including Enterprise Holdings Foundation president Carolyn Kindle Betz—and Worldwide Technology CEO Jim Kavanaugh. It calls for the venue to anchor redevelopment in the Downtown West district, which will include the construction of practice fields and other team facilities across from the stadium. St. Louis is slated to be one of two expansion teams that begins MLS play in 2022, joined by Sacramento.
Rendering courtesy HOK and Snow Kreilich Architects.
RELATED STORIES: St. Louis MLS Stadium Legislation Clears Early Hurdle; St. Louis MLS Stadium Bills Introduced; St. Louis MLS Stadium Planning Moving Along; $30M in State Tax Credits for St. Louis MLS Stadium Project Unlikely; State Board Scraps Meeting on St. Louis MLS Stadium Tax Credits;State Board Gets Tax Credits Request for St. Louis MLS Stadium; Expanded St. MLS Stadium Project Taking Shape; Will New St. Louis MLS Stadium Spur Downtown Development?; Still to be Finalized: St. Louis MLS Stadium Plan; St. Louis MLS Club Announced, Set for 2022 Launch; St. Louis Makes its Case as MLS Plots Future Expansion; Jim Kavanaugh Confident in St. Louis MLS Expansion Push; New St. Louis MLS Stadium Renderings Released; Delayed Decision on Port Authority Territory Leaves Questions About St. Louis MLS Stadium Funding; Coming Soon: St. Louis MLS Stadium Renderings