FD City Council Approves $5.8 Million for Corridor Plaza | News, Sports, Jobs

The debt will be paid off with property taxes generated by the shopping and entertainment complex on the site of the former Crossroads Mall.

The bulk of the funding will go toward a sports pavilion being built on the west side of the complex, at a cost of approximately $2.65 million.

The 200-by-250-foot building now under construction will house four basketball courts, three pickleball courts and a microbrewery restaurant. The $13 million facility will be owned and operated by M&M LLC, of ​​Ankeny.

In March, the council approved a development agreement with M&M that included the $2.65 million, plus five annual payments of $275,000.

The remaining money will be spent on an outdoor plaza ($2 million) and infrastructure in Corridor Plaza ($1.1 million).

The City Council is borrowing the money through a bond issue. The city government’s financial advisor, PFM, of Des Moines, went to the bond market Monday.

As a result, the money will be borrowed from a coalition of investment firms led by Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc., of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It offered an interest rate of 4.98 percent.

That’s a higher interest rate than the city has received on several recent bond issues, but Councilman Dave Flattery said: “That’s still a good rate.”

Early in Monday’s meeting, the council added Corridor Plaza to the Center City and Industrial Park Urban Renewal Areas. That means the tax increment financing will be used to pay down the bond debt. Tax increment financing occurs when increased property tax revenue from a designated area is set aside to be reinvested in that area. Paying down bond debt is a common use of tax increment financing.

Councillors Quennel McCaleb and Lydia Schuur were absent from the otherwise unanimous vote on Monday.