Helping a city enhance its downtown 

The business challenge 

Like many cities across the country, a mid-sized Upper Midwest city had a goal of maintaining its vibrant downtown. The city was approached by a developer seeking to construct a boutique specialty hotel and accompanying retail. Essential to the new development was the construction of a parking facility with more than 500 parking spaces and almost 20,000 square feet of embedded street-level retail space. 

The projects required debt financing for a major share of project costs. Two alternatives were considered: parking revenue bonds supported by the city's parking enterprise fund or tax increment financing revenue bonds supported by the city's Downtown Urban Renewal District. By examining the revenue, debt capacities and credit quality of both options, it was determined to issue TIF Urban Renewal Revenue Bonds. 

The solution 

The Baker Tilly team assisted in all aspects of the financing plan, including:    

• Analyzing the optional revenue streams, their debt capacity and overall receipt by the market 
• Drafting the request for the senior managing underwriter, overseeing the selection process, evaluating responses and assisting in the final selection 
• Working with the financing team on the tax issues and allocation of the project components by debt type 
• Leading the disclosure drafting and distribution 
• Representing the city in final pricing negotiations   

The impact  

The hotel/retail development and accompanying parking structure continue to play an important part in this city’s downtown.  

For more information, or to learn how Baker Tilly can help your organization, contact our team.

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