Ryan Smith wants control of at least three downtown blocks, unlimited building heights and a whole lot of public money as part of a deal to bring an entertainment district to Salt Lake City.
Those details came from an April 4 application the billionaire pro sports tycoon submitted to the city, kicking off negotiations for creating the new downtown district.
The city initially denied The Salt Lake Tribune’s open records request for the application, citing business confidentiality, but said Thursday that Smith Entertainment Group (SEG) ultimately waived its claim to withhold the record.
The application is the first part of a process laid out by SB272, the bill Utah lawmakers passed this year to pave the way for putting a billion dollars of public money into the sports district. The legislation allows Salt Lake City to raise its property tax rate by half a percentage point to create revenue for the project area.
Smith, who last month scored a deal to bring a National Hockey League franchise to Utah’s capital, intends to host both the new team and his Utah Jazz in the Delta Center.
His application to create a new district calls for:
• A new 99-year lease for the block now home to the Delta Center.
• Leasing two blocks east of the Delta Center from Salt Lake County.
• Allowing SEG to keep the money generated by the sales tax increase for 30 years — except for a 1% administrative fee paid to the city and whatever the county and Smith’s group agree to use for renovations to the Salt Palace Convention Center.
(The Legislature estimated the city’s sales tax increase would amount to about $54 million a year.)
• Lifting caps on building heights and allowing arenas, stadiums, heliports, and commercial and off-site parking as permitted uses in certain downtown zones.
• Potentially requiring tax increment financing, a tool that allows developers to tap new property tax revenues created in an area.
• The creation of a public infrastructure district. Such districts are able to issue bonds for things like roads.
The application says tax increment financing will be justified based on the anticipated positive impact of the project, including job creation and retention, improvement of property values, attracting additional investment, increasing tax revenue, sprucing up the area and enhancing entertainment opportunities.
“SEG believes the project area and the surrounding areas will become a desired destination,” the application states, “where both Utah residents and tourists will want to regularly visit, shop, recreate, gather, work and live.”
The creation of the district relies on the Salt Lake City Council to approve the requested tax increase. The council is expected to hear more details about the proposal at its Tuesday meeting.
