A new artist rendering of the Midway Rising project depicting the proposed 16,000-seat arena on the right and residential buildings on the leftMidway Rising
The city of San Diego is open to offering the Midway Rising development team “substantial financial assistance” to make possible the redevelopment of the city’s sports arena real estate in the Midway District, according to Jennifer Van Grove of the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. On Monday, San Diego City Council members voted unanimously to “explore the formation of what’s known as an Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District,” which means the city and its real estate consultant “will take a closer look at the pros and cons of creating a tax increment financing district” to pay for public infrastructure in and around the project area. The project, currently in the midst of its state-mandated environmental review, calls for 4,250 residential units, a 16,000-seat replacement arena, up to 145,000 square feet of commercial space, and an unspecified number of acres of parks, plazas and public space. In the case of the Midway Rising project, the “city of San Diego and potentially the county would participate in the EIFD, with the agencies forgoing their respective share of future property tax dollars,” above an established baseline, collected within the district’s boundaries. The city and developer did not provide any information to help quantify how much money might be on table. However, they did acknowledge that the project “would be in jeopardy without the public subsidy” (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 3/12).
