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Talk of the bay

Channel District project may seek financial help

By STEVE HUETTEL
Published April 4, 2005

Developers delivered a detailed financing plan last week for their proposed $450-million high-tech conference center and hotel/condo tower in Tampa's Channel District.

One question was left unanswered: Will they ask the local or state government for financial help?

That possibility was raised by the head of the California merchant banking firm that's arranging financing. Stephen Goodman of Redwood Capital Advisors said the project might qualify for as much as $22-million in tax breaks, but was fuzzy on the details.

The attorney for Tampa Bay Technology Center LLC said developers hadn't approached government officials about financial incentives, but wouldn't rule it out.

They could apply to the state for tax rebates if a company moves workers to the facility from outside Florida, said Tampa lawyer Stephen Mitchell, and may talk with the city of Tampa and Hillsborough County. "We'll look at other potential (financing) sources," he said.

Mitchell worked on the deal that brought the Tampa Waterside Marriott to downtown. Marriott sought incentives worth $16.5-million from the city. Instead of giving the money up front, Tampa officials agreed to make 19 annual lease payments ranging from $1.45-million to $2.1-million a year - a total of nearly $32-million.

In return, the city received a lease for the plazas and sidewalks around the hotel and some of the second-floor terraces and lobby. Officials said the hotel would generate more than enough in taxes to cover the lease payments.

Those incentives were critical to make the hotel's finances work, Mitchell said. But the project slated on Tampa Port Authority land on Channelside Drive has sufficient financing without public dollars, he said.

"That doesn't make it or break it," Mitchell said.

[Last modified April 2, 2005, 21:30:04]