Charles Pointe TIF bonds sold, Bridgeport acquires properties

With all closing documents officially signed, the commission has agreed to issue the sales TIF bonds, which will be repaid through future sales taxes — or tax increment revenues — generated at Charles Pointe.

The bond revenues were used to purchase three lots from Genesis Partners; those lots were then deeded over to the Bridgeport Municipal Building Commission Thursday. Bridgeport plans to use the properties as sites for a new conference facility; a civic multi-use complex that will house the Greater Bridgeport Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Bridgeport Farmers Market; and an indoor recreation complex.

Multiple officials involved in the transaction indicated that they spent multiple hours at the Steptoe & Johnson offices in Bridgeport Thursday signing documents to complete the transaction.

According to information provided by the county commission, two sets of bonds were issued Thursday.

United Bank agreed to purchase $4.5 million in Series A Bonds, while the developers purchased $2,879,282.50 in Series B Bonds.

The Series A Bonds will collect 2.45 percent interest for the first three years; after that, the interest rate will vary depending on the Wall Street Journal Prime rate. Those bonds are scheduled to be paid off by May of 2021.

The Series B Bonds will collect interest at a fixed 5 percent rate and are scheduled to be paid off by 2036.

Bridgeport City Manager Kim Haws said he’s hoping to develop “at least a rough draft” of what the projects will look like in the next two to three months.

“The first order of business now that we have acquired the properties is to sit down and determine what the scope of what we want to create out there is, and that’s going to take some time,” Haws said, noting that the city didn’t want to commit to preliminary design and engineering work until the completion of the property transfer. “Once it’s defined and determined what the costs will be, then we can start talking about how we are going to do this.”

Sen. Mike Romano, D-Harrison, chairs the county board that oversees the administration of Charles Pointe’s sales TIF. Romano, who has been vocal in support of the sales TIF bond transaction since it was first publicly discussed roughly a year ago, talked about the potential benefits of the proposed projects.

“It’s going to permit three really important improvements to quality of life here in Harrison County to be completed,” Romano said. “The indoor recreation center is going to provide a great location for a multitude of activities for all citizens in Harrison County. I think the multipurpose building will help the farmers market flourish along with a whole bunch of other activities and private office space that will be rented there.

“And of course, the new, much larger convention center is an important piece of the puzzle to keep groups and the Big 12 (schools) coming to Harrison County and bringing along with them great economic development.”

Romano repeated a point he’s often made in the past: The bonds will only be secured by the sales tax revenues generated at Charles Pointe above the amount that was being collected at the time the Legislature agreed to establish a sales TIF district there a few years ago.

“As long as things keep moving forward now that the economy’s back on track, and they get some private development up there, which we anticipate to be coming soon and hopefully in big numbers, this thing’s going to explode beyond anybody’s vision, except for maybe that of the developers, who have seen this coming for a long time,” Romano said.

Commissioner Bernie Fazzini, who voted against issuing the bonds, said he’s still concerned the proposed projects won’t generate the kind of economic development needed to justify the amount of TIF revenues expended.

“I haven’t changed my mind. I don’t have a problem buying the properties. I do have a problem with the projects on hand,” Fazzini said. “If they had a supermarket going into that development, I’d buy that property in a hurry and lease it to them real cheap, and they’d have a store to expand and bring in other businesses.”

But Haws said the proposed quality of life projects will attract visitors and help spur development. He alluded to the impact of the existing Bridgeport Recreation Complex — which Bridgeport was able to build because of a similar TIF transaction used to acquire the property.

“Ever since I’ve been involved in economic development in this area, we’ve always struggled with making ourselves a destination location and what it is that would bring visitors from the outside,” Haws said. “We are slowly creating those amenities in our area that people want to come from all over the region to participate in, and I see this particular project as the same.

“I’m really excited about the opportunities it’s going to give us.”