The city is closer to buying the land for a new San Antonio Spurs arena.
The Midtown Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) board of directors voted 8-4 to allocate up to $60 million to acquire the former site of the Institute of Texan Cultures at Hemisfair. The city is still negotiating with the University of Texas Board of Regents for the site, and city staff said a deal is likely to close by the end of this year.
City staff estimates that the total acquisition costs, including financing, will be $115.7 million.
District 2 Council Member Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, who was appointed to the now 11-member board this week, voted against the measure. Board members Seema Kairam, George Grimes and Joseph Bravo also voted against it.
Just before the vote was taken, McKee-Rodriguez said he requested to join the board to push for more funding for affordable housing projects, which he said is part of why the Midtown TIRZ was resurrected. He called Friday’s vote a “betrayal of values.”
Read more of this story at the San Antonio Business Journal website.
Editor’s note: This story was published through a partnership between KSAT and the San Antonio Business Journal.
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