The number of potential sites for the new FC Cincinnati stadium has been reduced to two and Newport is still in the running.
FC Cincinnati has released a statement indicating Cincinnati’s West End is no longer being considered as a site.
And in the meantime, the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce has put on a full-court-press to attract FC Cincinnati to Newport’s riverfront.
https://www.facebook.com/nkychamberofcommerce/videos/10155505816059065/
The FCC’s statement about the West End site identifies the Cincinnati Public Schools proposal for financial incentives, which it states would be in excess of more than $50 million over 10 years, as impractical
The FC Cincinnati Statement on West End stadium:
The proposed resolution received by FC Cincinnati this evening from the CPS Board of Education is consistent with its position of the past several weeks. CPS is asking FC Cincinnati to pay $20 million over 10 years.
FC Cincinnati has offered to pay $750,000 each year over its first 10 years in the new stadium, and to pay a consistent annual amount thereafter. This investment by FC Cincinnati of approximately $7,500,000 over the first 10 years in the new stadium is more than $6,800,000 more than CPS currently receives.
In addition to this investment by FC Cincinnati, CPS would have benefitted from a new $10 million first-class Stargel Stadium for Taft High School and more than a dozen CPS schools and community organizations.
Finally, CPS will lose new tax revenues generated by new residential and other development in the West End community. When FC Cincinnati moves forward to construct its stadium in Oakley or Newport, a tax-abated, high-end CitiRama development on the proposed new Stargel Stadium site will permanently remove any development opportunities of this magnitude on the site proposed by FC Cincinnati.
CPS has also directed FC Cincinnati to enter into a legally binding Community Benefits Agreement with a coalition of community organizations and residents in the West End neighborhood. FC Cincinnati has been informed the benefits demanded under the Community Benefits Agreement will cost upwards of $50 million over ten years comprised of an initial payment of $30 million plus $1-2 million annually thereafter.
As with any business, FC Cincinnati must consider the economics surrounding this significant investment. By CPS adding $50-60 million in CPS and West End neighborhood costs to the investment by FC Cincinnati of approximately $400 million, the economics of privately funding a stadium in the West End community are impractical.
This was a once in a lifetime development opportunity for a neighborhood that wants and needs new investment, and the jobs and business opportunities that would have come with it. FC Cincinnati regrets that it will be unable to construct a stadium in the West End community and have moved our focus to Oakley and Newport.
While we are disappointed we will not be neighbors with our new friends in the West End, we are committed to remaining partners working to improve the quality of life in the neighborhood.
Lol
FC ownership just wanted stuff at a severe discount. Try telling your local tax authority that you only want to pay 1 to 10 percent of your property tax due per year and see what they say.
CPS was already benefitting from a reduced property tax rate and FCC simply wanted the same deal, that’s why they wanted to make a deal for the West End property. Jobs, housing, and additional tax revenue for the community would have followed. But then CPS decided they wanted to shake-down FCC for more than the fair market value of the property PLUS they then sought to extort another $50 mil from FCC with this so-called “Community Benefits Agreement” (i,e, Handout). No wonder the West End is stagnated with little to no growth. We’ll gladly take FCC’s PRIVATELY FUNDED stadium in NKY.