By Molly Smith, Staff writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2025-02-24 15:56:19
由生成式人工智能翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
图中左侧为鼓状的约翰·H·伍德小联邦法院和弧形的阿德里安·A·斯皮尔斯司法培训中心，于2025年1月7日在德克萨斯州圣安东尼奥的海米斯博览会公园拍摄。
市政府官员正计划利用海米斯博览会新开发项目的税收收入，以帮助支付该市雄心勃勃的数十亿美元 市中心体育和娱乐区 提案的费用。
其中一部分资金可能用于在德克萨斯文化研究所所在地建造一座耗资超过10亿美元的马刺队球馆。
“我们正在寻找潜在的娱乐-竞技场区域的融资机制，”助理市长洛瑞·休斯顿(Lori Houston)在12月2日的一次公开会议上表示。“我们正在考虑将海米斯博览会税收增量再投资区(TIRZ)作为其中一些资金的主要融资机制。”
该市于2017年创建了海米斯博览会税收增量再投资区。当时，它为该区域内的所有住宅和商业地产设定了一个基础应税价值，该区域的边界为北至东商业街，东至37号州际公路，南至东塞萨尔·E·查韦斯大道，西至南圣玛丽街。任何高于该基础值的城市房产税收入都将用于资助该区域内的项目。
在创建时，预计TIRZ在其20年的生命周期内将产生4220万美元的收入。但是，该估计没有考虑到征税区内未来的私人开发项目，例如 圣安东尼奥君主酒店 ，这是一座位于海米斯博览会内的17层、200间客房的酒店，预计将于2026年开业。该酒店是一个综合用途开发项目的一部分，该项目还将包括一座10层、300个单元的公寓楼和零售空间。
新的开发项目将增加该区域为公共改善项目产生的房产税收入。
市政府没有安排任何人接受采访。
官员们尚未提供拟议的体育和娱乐区的总体成本估算，他们将其代号为“惊奇计划”。休斯顿在圣安东尼奥快报通过公开记录请求获得的2023年6月电子邮件中表示，成本在30亿美元至40亿美元之间。但是在11月下旬，当她首次向市议会公开介绍该项目时，她淡化了该数字的准确性。
在那次简报会上，负责该市市中心运营的休斯顿确定了一个未命名的城市税收增量再投资区、城市酒店入住税和 圣安东尼奥最近获得的州酒店税 作为该地区项目的潜在公共资金来源。此外，城市和马刺队官员还希望利用贝克萨尔县对酒店房间和租赁汽车征收的税款，以帮助建造一座新的马刺队球馆。
除了球馆外，该区域还可以包括扩建的会议中心、另一家会议中心酒店、升级后的阿拉莫巨蛋和海米斯博览会的前约翰·H·伍德小联邦法院 改造为活动场所 。这些设施可以被公寓、餐厅、商店和公园以及新街道所环绕，并且可能建造一座横跨37号州际公路的陆桥，将东区与该区域连接起来。
市政府官员将要求市议会批准重新划分征税区域边界，将阿拉莫巨蛋从内城区TIRZ移至海米斯博览会TIRZ，以便后一个区域可以用于资助该设施的任何升级。
“如果我们要为整个区域发行债务以进行改善，那么发行人很可能希望我们将所有将要改善的房产都放在一个TIRZ中，”休斯顿在12月2日告诉内城区TIRZ委员会。
“我们正在做的是确保娱乐区所需的所有项目和所有土地都在一个TIRZ内，”她补充说。
阿拉莫巨蛋是官员们希望从内城区TIRZ中移除并添加到海米斯博览会TIRZ中的三处市政府拥有的房产之一，总共12个地块。
其他房产包括位于海米斯博览会西侧的拉维利塔历史艺术村和位于阿拉莫巨蛋东侧的樱桃街上的一个标牌商店。
休斯顿说，将这些地块从内城区TIRZ中移除不会影响其“财务状况”，因为市政府拥有的房产不缴纳房产税。
她说，标牌商店的房产最终可能会变成停车场或经济适用房综合体。
第五区市议员特里·卡斯蒂略(Teri Castillo)是内城区TIRZ委员会的成员，她批评了拟议的边界重新划分，这是最近为她所在地区的征税区域所做的事情。
市长和议会在12月19日以7比2的投票结果， 将17个私有地块从西区TIRZ移至休斯顿街TIRZ ，并将它们的期限延长至2060年，以便该市可以帮助为圣安东尼奥使团队在圣佩德罗溪文化公园附近建造一个耗资1.6亿美元的棒球场提供资金。卡斯蒂略和第二区市议员贾伦·麦基-罗德里格斯(Jalen McKee-Rodriguez)，他是内城区委员会的主席，投票反对该举措。
“与西区TIRZ类似，我认为这个项目是对东区和西区的撤资，并且是一种货币重新分配的形式，”卡斯蒂略在12月的会议上说。
卡斯蒂略建议在由五名成员组成的海米斯博览会TIRZ委员会中增加一个县议员席位，麦基-罗德里格斯支持这一提议。休斯顿说，这将需要议会投票。她没有表明工作人员是否会将该提案提交给议会批准。
原计划议会在12月19日对地块转移进行投票，此外还计划将内城区TIRZ延长至2060年，但该项目不在会议议程上。
目前尚不清楚何时可能提交给议会。
市发言人布莱恩·查斯诺夫表示，市政府工作人员仍在决定是否要求议会将海米斯博览会TIRZ的期限延长至目前的20年期限（将于2037年到期）。但是，休斯顿告诉内城区TIRZ委员会，该市正在寻求统一其所有市中心征税区的期限。
点击查看原文：City officials eye Hemisfair tax dollars for Project Marvel
City officials eye Hemisfair tax dollars for Project Marvel
The drum-shaped John H. Wood, Jr. Federal Courthouse and curved Adrian A. Spears Judicial Training Center, left, are seen in Hemisfair Park on Jan. 7, 2025 in San Antonio, Texas.
City officials are eyeing tax revenue from new development at Hemisfair to help pay for the city’s ambitious proposal for a multibillion-dollar downtown sports and entertainment district.
Some of that money could go toward a $1 billion-plus Spurs arena envisioned for the Institute of Texan Cultures site.
“We are looking for a funding mechanism for the potential entertainment-arena district,” Assistant City Manager Lori Houston said during a public meeting on Dec. 2. “And what we are looking at is making the Hemisfair TIRZ the primary funding mechanism for some of that.”
The city created the Hemisfair Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone in 2017. At the time, it set a base taxable value for all residential and commercial properties within the zone, which is bounded by East Commerce Street to the north, Interstate 37 to the east, East César E. Chávez Boulevard to the south and South St. Mary’s Street to the west. Any city property tax revenue collected above that base is used to finance projects within the zone.
The TIRZ was expected to generate $42.2 million over its 20-year life span at the time it was created. But that estimate did not factor in future private development within the taxing zone, such as the Monarch San Antonio, a 17-story, 200-room hotel in Hemisfair that is expected to open in 2026. The hotel is part of a mixed-use development that will also include a 10-story, 300-unit apartment complex and retail space.
New development will increase the property tax revenue the zone will generate for public improvement projects.
The city did not make anyone available for an interview.
Officials have yet to provide an overall cost estimate for the proposed sports and entertainment district, which they’ve code-named Project Marvel. Houston put the cost between $3 billion to $4 billion in June 2023 emails that the San Antonio Express-News obtained through a public records request. But she downplayed the accuracy of that figure in late November, when she first publicly briefed the City Council on the project.
At that briefing, Houston, who oversees the city’s downtown operations, identified a unnamed city tax increment reinvestment zone, city hotel occupancy taxes and state hotel taxes San Antonio recently gained access to as potential public funding sources for the district’s projects. That’s in addition to the Bexar County tax on hotel rooms and rental cars that city and Spurs officials would like to tap to help build a new Spurs arena.
In addition to the arena, the district could include an expanded Convention Center, another Convention Center hotel, an upgraded Alamodome and the former John H. Wood Jr. Federal Courthouse at Hemisfair refashioned as an event venue. These facilities could be surrounded by apartments, restaurants, stores and parks as well as new streets and, potentially, a land bridge over Interstate 37 connecting the East Side to the area.
City officials will ask the City Council to approve redrawing taxing zone boundaries to move the Alamodome from the Inner City TIRZ to the Hemisfair TIRZ so the later zone could be used to finance any upgrades to the facility.
“If we were to go and issue debt for the entire area to do improvements, most likely the issuer would want us to have all the properties that are going to be improved within one TIRZ,” Houston told the Inner City TIRZ board on Dec. 2.
“What we’re doing is we’re making sure that all the projects and all the land that will be needed for the entertainment district is within one TIRZ,” she added.
The Alamodome is one of three city-owned properties, which amount to a combined 12 parcels, that officials want removed from the Inner City TIRZ and added to the Hemisfair TIRZ.
The other properties include the La Villita Historic Arts Village, which is west of Hemisfair, and a sign shop on Cherry Street, east of the Alamodome.
Removing those parcels from the Inner City TIRZ will not impact its “financial position” because city-owned properties do not pay property taxes, Houston said.
The sign shop property could eventually become parking or an affordable housing complex, she said.
District 5 City Councilwoman Teri Castillo, who sits on the Inner City TIRZ board, criticized the proposed boundary redrawing, something that was recently done for a taxing zone in her district.
The mayor and council voted 7-2 on Dec. 19 to move 17 privately-owned parcels from the West Side TIRZ to the Houston Street TIRZ and to extend their terms through 2060 so the city can help finance a $160 million ballpark for the San Antonio Missions near San Pedro Creek Culture Park. Castillo and District 2 Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, who chairs the Inner City board, voted against the move.
“Similar to the West Side TIRZ, I feel like this item is divestment from both the East and West Sides, and it’s a form of monetary redistricting,” Castillo said at the December meeting.
Castillo suggested adding a seat for a County Council member to the five-member Hemisfair TIRZ board, a proposal McKee-Rodriguez supported. That would require a vote of the council, Houston said. She did not indicate whether staff would present the proposal to council for approval.
Council had been expected to vote on the parcel move on Dec. 19, in addition to extending the Inner City TIRZ through 2060, but the item was not on the meeting agenda.
It’s unknown when it might come before council.
City spokesman Brian Chasnoff said city staffers are still deciding whether to ask council to extend the Hemisfair TIRZ beyond its current 20-year term, which ends in 2037. However, Houston told the Inner City TIRZ board that the city was seeking to align the life spans of all its downtown taxing districts.
By Molly Smith, Staff writer, via San Antonio Express-News