On “Real News with Rick Outzen” this morning, Mayor D.C. Reeves reviewed the analysis done by his finance director, Amy Lovoy, of the 2022 lease concepts approved by the Pensacola City Council and the ground lease for Inspired Communities of Florida, which is before the council today.
Lovoy determined:
- The 2024 lease yields a taxable and lease return of $19,574,157 while the 2022 lease yields $529,380 plus parking a garage.
- The 2024 lease is only for lot 5 while the 2022 lease was for both lots 4 and 5.
“Our job is let’s do the best that we can to get the best deal for the citizens and to get the return on investment in Maritime Park that we’ve been talking about for years,” he said.
He outlined the benchmarks in the lease:
- Inspired has 12 months to apply for permits. “What that means is probably 10 to $11 million of architecture, engineering, and everything else.”
- No tax abatements. “We will not give a tax abatement based on, and if you recall, the tax abatement was 75% of the entire project for 10 years, 50% for the next 10 years it was going to help fund a garage.
- It was going to be on (parcels) 4 and 5. “Now we’re just on 5 and it’s going amounts out to about a million dollars extra in revenue per year, including the tax abatement that comes with Live Local.”
Mayor Reeves said, “The numbers that we are sharing with the council that $20 million over the next 20 years includes the maximum abatement that they could get from the state. So financially speaking, we keep talking about for years that we want to be in a position to have a return on this citizen investment of Maritime Park. And I think this would be a big step forward in that direction.”
Featured Photo by Ian Powell on Unsplash