I am honored to have been invited to address the subject of brownfields redevelopment at the annual shopping center industry conference to be held this coming May in Las Vegas. The panel entitled “Challenges & Opportunities: Redeveloping the ‘Undevelopable’” will involve a discussion of the role of public-private partnerships in the redevelopment of brownfields sites across the nation. The conference is sponsored by the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), the trade association for that sector of the commercial real estate industry that encompasses developers and owners of retail stores and shopping centers, as well as the retailers and tenants that occupy them. The convention has the distinction of being the largest commercial real estate gathering in the nation with over 40,000 attendees in recent years.
I anticipate discussing the role of tax increment financing (TIF) as a public-private partnership strategy. TIF is a municipal financing tool which has been used effectively to redevelop brownfields and other under-utilized urban real estate assets throughout the nation. My first exposure to TIF was in connection with a proposed public-private partnership for a mixed-use development project in downtown Hartford. In recent years, I was part of a team that ICSC assembled to lobby for the revision of New York State’s cumbersome tax increment financing statute to make it more development-friendly. As a result of a collective agreement by the Cuomo Administration and both houses of the State Legislature in 2012, the State enacted changes to its TIF provisions to facilitate its use by municipalities, counties and IDAs to issue bonds to support brownfields redevelopment and infrastructure projects. The provisions are still a work-in-progress, but the State’s municipalities and counties now have an additional tool to support redevelopment and finance infrastructure projects such as parking garages and environmental remediation.
I anticipate discussing the role of tax increment financing (TIF) as a public-private partnership strategy. TIF is a municipal financing tool which has been used effectively to redevelop brownfields and other under-utilized urban real estate assets throughout the nation. My first exposure to TIF was in connection with a proposed public-private partnership for a mixed-use development project in downtown Hartford. In recent years, I was part of a team that ICSC assembled to lobby for the revision of New York State’s cumbersome tax increment financing statute to make it more development-friendly. As a result of a collective agreement by the Cuomo Administration and both houses of the State Legislature in 2012, the State enacted changes to its TIF provisions to facilitate its use by municipalities, counties and IDAs to issue bonds to support brownfields redevelopment and infrastructure projects. The provisions are still a work-in-progress, but the State’s municipalities and counties now have an additional tool to support redevelopment and finance infrastructure projects such as parking garages and environmental remediation.
Juanita Tate Marketplace in South Los Angeles
However, I believe the most potent use of TIF in New York State and elsewhere in the future will be for mixed-use development that combines retail with vertical development programs inclusive of multifamily, lodging, healthcare, and/or office components. This is consistent with the LIVE-SHOP-HEAL paradigm I have been promoting. For the most environmentally challenged development sites, the inordinate costs of remediation often will require intensive development in order to generate sufficient tax increment to support a sizable bond issue. This, I believe, aligns synergistically with trends favoring urban redevelopment.
I look forward to a productive discussion and sharing my insights regarding brownfields financing and TIF for shopping center projects completed in San Diego and Los Angeles, as well as more recent mixed-use and industrial project proposals I have worked on in Texas and Westchester and Orange Counties in New York State. The panel discussion will be held at 10:00 am on Monday, May 23rd. For registration information, visit www.icsc.org.
I look forward to a productive discussion and sharing my insights regarding brownfields financing and TIF for shopping center projects completed in San Diego and Los Angeles, as well as more recent mixed-use and industrial project proposals I have worked on in Texas and Westchester and Orange Counties in New York State. The panel discussion will be held at 10:00 am on Monday, May 23rd. For registration information, visit www.icsc.org.
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