$47 million road project is slated for Brooks City-Base
San Antonio Business Journal - by Catherine Dominguez
http://atlanta.bizjournals.com/atlan...5600%5E1538122
The Brooks Development Authority is kicking off a $47 million infrastructure project that is designed to attract international high-tech and research companies to the 1,300-acre Brooks City-Base on the city's Southeast Side.
The project will involve extending New Braunfels Avenue through the former Air Force Base to Loop 410. According to Don Jakeway, president and CEO of the Brooks Development Authority (BDA), which oversees Brooks City-Base, the project will make the land more accessible and more marketable.
"This is key to everything we will be doing in the future," Jakeway says. "This will pave the way for us to go out and market available property and allow us to develop the research and technology park."
Although the Pentagon's 2005 Base Realignment and Closure decision recommended closing the base and relocating the existing Air Force operations to other bases, Jakeway says there will continue to be an Air Force presence at Brooks City-Base until at least 2011. The new boulevard will help open up the land that is not occupied by the military and allow the BDA to begin marketing those areas to new businesses.
The four-year project, when completed, will create a new boulevard running from Southeast Military Drive on the north, through Brooks City-Base and connecting with Loop 410 south of the former base. The boulevard will be a four-lane road with a landscaped median and lighting.
"We think this is raising the bar really high for development opportunities at Brooks City-Base," Jakeway says. "We have the chance to embrace the private sector and create quality jobs and services for the South Side that has not had the economic explosion in the past."
Phased out
The construction will be done by San Antonio-based Yantis Co. The first phase of the project will begin immediately, Jakeway says.
Phase one will extend from Southeast Military Drive to Sidney Brooks Drive inside the boundaries of Brooks City-Base and will carry a price tag of about $2.4 million, which will be fully funded by the City of San Antonio.
Phase two will continue New Braunfels Avenue through the base to Loop 410 and will account for the bulk of the $47 million construction price tag.
Jakeway says the BDA will issue bonds backed by the funds generated from Brooks' designation as a Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ). The Brooks TIRZ extends beyond the City-Base boundaries and encompasses a total of some 2,500 acres.
Bart Sanchez, chief financial officer for the BDA, says that currently the authority generates about $600,000 annually through the TIRZ.
Under a TIRZ, taxes are locked in at a base amount for a given period of time, usually a decade or more. Taxes collected by the city that are attributable to new improvements above that base amount are then set aside to help fund the cost of improvements.
The BDA also hopes to use funds from Bexar County and the state to keep the bond amount low to reduce the burden on taxpayers.
"We are really using a multitude of funding capabilities that will minimize cost attributed directly back to San Antonio taxpayers," he says. "It's a wide variety of partners coming together to make this important investment."
Jakeway says the BDA is focused on making the former base attractive and appealing, which he says will help lure profitable high-tech businesses to the area.
"It's more than just a road. It's the landscaping, it's the signage, the decorative lighting," he says. "We want there to be a grand entry way to our campus, and we want it to be very appealing. By investing in the infrastructure in this quality of a way allows us to go out and attract top international corporate entities looking for a home."
Spreading its wings
In 2002 Brooks Air Force Base was renamed Brooks City-Base when the property was transferred to the BDA as part of a unique partnership between the local, state and federal governments. The BDA is the owner, operator and developer of the Brooks City-Base property. Its mission is to redevelop the property into a science, business and technology center.
Currently, tenants at Brooks City-Base include DPT Laboratories, EarthTech and the Challenger Learning Center. In addition, the base is home to City Base Landing, which is a shopping center anchored by retailers including Best Buy, Wal-Mart Supercenter and Sam's Club.
While the U.S. Air Force has been the BDA's largest tenant, Jakeway says it is critical to begin the improvements and market the campus beyond the nation's borders due to the fact the military will not have a presence at City-Base after 2011.
Ed Davis, assistant director for the City of San Antonio's Economic Development Department, says the project is vital to the success of Brooks City-Base.
"(The BDA) certainly needs it," he says. "Military bases weren't designed to promote commercial developments."
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