Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowCity-County Council President Vop Osili is sponsoring a proposal from Mayor Joe Hogsett’s administration to create a new taxing district that could be used to fund a new downtown soccer stadium and help an undisclosed ownership group lure a Major League Soccer expansion team to Indianapolis.
Without a member of the council sponsoring the measure, the proposal could not have moved forward.
Proposal 175, which would create a Professional Sports Development Area, or PSDA, will be introduced at Monday evening’s full City-County Council meeting, a procedure that typically entails a quick reading by the council clerk with no discussion. The proposal will then be referred to the Rules and Public Policy Committee, which Osili chairs.
The proposal calls for the approval of a map that specifies more than 120 non-contiguous addresses throughout the downtown area that would be incorporated into the PSDA, which would provide substantial funding for a soccer stadium to be developed on land adjacent to the Downtown Heliport.
The City-County Council has already approved a different PSDA for a professional soccer stadium at the former Diamond Chain site on the west side of downtown, giving the district final approval on Dec. 4 by a 23-1 vote. Work on a stadium district is already under way at that site by Indianapolis-based Keystone Group, whose owner, Ersal Ozdemir, also co-owns the Indy Eleven soccer team., which plays in the second-tier USL Championship league. Owners of the Indy Eleven also have the goal of attracting an MLS team.
Whether the mayor’s plan had any council support was called into question last week when Councilor Kristin Jones, a Democrat representing the area, told reporters she wouldn’t sponsor the proposal and that she was not aware of a councilor who would. Jones was flanked at the announcement by Democratic Majority Leader Maggie Lewis and Republican Minority Leader Brian Mowery, as well as supporters of the Indy Eleven.
The PSDA supporting Eleven Park was advanced by the Metropolitan and Economic Development Committee, which typically deals with project incentives and development districts.
The next meeting of the Rules and Public Policy Committee is Tuesday, May 28, at 5:30 p.m. In order to create the district, city officials said the legislative process must be complete and the proposal ready to submit to the state by June 30. If the proposal gets council approval, it would return to the Metropolitan Development Commission for another vote.
In recent days, councilors have met with members of the Hogsett administration and soccer executive Tom Glick about the potential MLS application that will be led by an undisclosed ownership group.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.
Boy this deal is moving at light speed. We’ll never know how many palms are being greased to pull this “quickie” off.
Mayor waited until there was no real time for public opinion to attempt to pull this off, as it has to be to the state by June 30. Sneaky stuff.
Tax increase?
No thank you
I live at e georgia and Shelby. Could they possibly tax me for this project and not lower my taces by building a homeless shelter literally next to me?
Somebody is smoking Mota.
What about noise ordinances.
You don’t understand how the tax district would work. It is not about creating a new tax on property owners, but about using existing tax revenues within the district to back bonds for the project. You are also confusing this sports district with the proposed downtown improvement district, which would create a new tax for various services, including a homeless shelter, but *not* for residential properties under the new state law passed this session.
Someone is smoking something, John…
clueless, John
The timing of everything is what’s interesting to me. The city knew Keystone group has been trying to lure MLS to Indy for sometime now. Why didn’t the city go all in back then for Keystone as The Mayor for this new outside group of investors? I’m not against bringing MLS to Indy but it’s how the Mayor has went about conducting business. It’s clear battle lines are drawn between supporters of IndyEleven and Eleven Park vs The Mayor and his outside investors. I believe the city should work with Keystone to bring MLS to Eleven Park and finish the project. I also believe the Mayor knew for awhile he would back door Keystone group. Not a good look Mr. Mayor
Keystone has been living off the public teat for years. Ozedemir is the same guy who bamboozled the Ballard administration into giving over $6 million of city money to help build that white elephant parking garage in Broad Ripple.
For decades, developer after developer has stuck their snout in the public trough while the rest of Indianapolis foots the bill for their projects, so cry me a river to see one of them get the rug pulled out from under them. Keystone came up with these grandiose plans for a new soccer stadium, but no feasible financing plan, except to get the city to put more and more money in—first an inch, then a mile. While I am sure any new sports team/stadium will involve some sort of city subsidy (and really the money should go to city services instead), I am glad to see one corporate welfare money grubber finally get his comeuppance.
I wonder if Vop knows who the secret investor is???
Obviously he does
I’m telling you, it’s Simon. The helicopter site is close to the area where Simon is building a new hotel and apartment tower. All this will be rolled into one giant development.
4-5 blocks isn’t exactly close
Make it Happen and hurrup.
How can they sponsor a bill to fund a project without the public even knowing who is behind it? There will be years of legal battles here.