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St. Louis leaders seek $30M in state tax credits for $461M soccer stadium

The city's application said the credits would help it acquire MoDOT land currently used as the 20th Street on and off-ramps

ST. LOUIS BUSINESS JOURNAL — The city of St. Louis is seeking $30 million in state tax credits to go toward construction of a Major League Soccer stadium downtown, an application authored Wednesday says.

The document, from the city's Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority, also gives a more detailed project cost: $461 million, and says construction at the site, just west of Union Station, will start in January, with the first event in March 2022.

The city wants the Missouri Development Finance Board, which runs several state tax incentives, to approve the LCRA for $15 million in 2019 credits and another $15 million in 2020 credits. The board meets Tuesday and again on Dec. 17. Its schedule for 2020 hasn't yet been posted.

The credits would add to the public cost of the project. The city also plans to contribute $21 million through three special taxing districts, or taxes at the stadium site, that haven't yet been approved by the Board of Aldermen.

One of the owners of St. Louis' new Major League Soccer franchise on Tuesday said construction on the team's $250 million Downtown West stadium could begin in January. In an interview with KMOV, Carolyn Kindle Betz said the group continues to work with the Missouri Department of Transportation to procure the land stadium near Union Station, but hopes to begin work at the start of 2020.
Carolyn Kindle Betz, one of the owners of St. Louis' new Major League Soccer expansion franchise, on Wednesday reiterated her goal to start construction on the team's $250 million stadium project in January while offering some of the backstory behind the expanded Downtown West development and a hint at a timeline for selecting a team name.
An architect on the project says the square design is a "direction translation of the vision we heard from ownership," while a member of #MLS4THELOU explains how retaining private ownership of the development gives the ownership group greater control over the"

The city's application says the credits would help it acquire Missouri Department of Transportation land, currently used as the 20th Street on and off-ramps for Interstate 64, and make various infrastructure improvements. The city has an option to buy that land from MoDOT, though it's unclear whether it would then sell it to the ownership group, led by the Taylor family of Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Jim Kavanaugh, CEO of World Wide Technology.

St. Louis Development Corp. Executive Director Otis Williams didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Read the full story on the St. Louis Business Journal.

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