fbpx

|

Valenti makes final public pitch for council to support updated Gateway plan before September vote

Share this story:

Cameron Group developer Tom Valenti was back in town Wednesday to pitch the Mission council on his latest public finance incentives requests.
Cameron Group developer Tom Valenti was back in town Wednesday to pitch the Mission council on his latest public finance incentives requests.

Tom Valenti is hoping the fourth time’s a charm for him embattled Mission Gateway project.

The Syracuse, N.Y.,-based developer was back in Mission last night to lobby the city council to approve his most recent project plan as well as the public finance incentives he says are necessary to move forward. At Wednesday’s city council meeting, Mission held the public hearings required by law before the council is able to consider Valenti’s proposals: a fourth amended tax increment financing project plan and a request for the creation of a slightly altered community improvement district.

In a presentation to the council, Valenti emphasized the benefit to Mission’s tax roles of having the Gateway development up-and-running, saying that Mission would see more than $1 million in new revenue starting around 2020 — though he included nearly $600,000 per year in stormwater infrastructure debt repayments his company owes the city in that figure.

Valenti’s figures show that once the TIF period expires after 20 years, the city can expect around $4 million in annual revenue from taxes and fees generated by the development.

Valenti had no new information to report about the tenant mix the city could expect to see in the development since he last appeared in Mission two months ago, save to say that the company was making “excellent progress in our leasing efforts.”

“We are getting closer to finalizing some additional deals,” he told the council. “We had some excellent meetings as recently as last night and one again today. But we’re not done yet and we’re not ready to announce.”

The current plan calls for the construction of two large buildings on the east side of the property. One would have an “entertainment” tenant. Potentials uses of the other building have not been revealed.

Councilmembers gave no indication of whether Valenti would have the support he needs when the governing body votes on the project plan and CID districts at its Sept. 20 meeting, engaging in no serious dialogue with him during the hearing. Just one member of the public spoke before the hearing was closed, questioning whether Valenti’s 20-year financial projections held water.

You can see the full deck Valenti used in his presentation to the council embedded below:

[gview file=”https://dfv6pkw99pxmo.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/17084131/Gateway-TIF-Plan-Presentation-8-16-17-Version-2.pdf”]

About the author

Jay Senter
Jay Senter

Jay Senter is the founder and publisher of the Post.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in business at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, where he worked as a reporter and editor at The Badger Herald.

He went on to receive a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Kansas, where he earned the Calder Pickett Award. While he was in graduate school, he also worked as a reporter for the Lawrence Journal-World.

LATEST HEADLINES