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Originally Posted by jjslonaker
Tbh as someone that lives close by I don't want the Top Golf to happen.
A. it's fucking ugly with huge ass nets and bright lights literally abutting a gd historic district. And b. the developers have been shady af presenting housing/affordable housing and a grocery store then magically doing away with that and changing it to a Top Golf?.. Which this city def does not need two of. It's a bait and switch and classic NO bullshit. If the rest of the development is hinged on a stupid golf course then we're better off without it. They're going to sell the land at way below market value to a company that doesn't need a discount and give them a tax break like letting gd Shell have a tax break. This city/state is falling apart because politicians in this city/state whore themselves out to corporations that do not benefit anyone and push all the cost on us taxpayers/homeowners... (Literally half of the taxable real estate in the city isn't taxed) and barely any of these corporations pay any taxes while destroying our environment or giving people cancer. We can do a lot better.
What this city actually needs is affordable housing.. And another grocery store would be a welcome bonus for the neighborhood. Talk to anyone that's a neighbor. They're fine with the original proposal and not this shady BS. A top golf is literally not going to change anything economically. Minimum wage jobs and what happens if it fails? The city will sell them the land for only $7mil then they'll sell it for twice that.. and Shell already has their shop in the CBD after sending most of it to Houston, so what does them moving to a tax free spot (lol with record profits) say about supporting our CBD downtown, especially since they continue to downsize?
If there has to be a top golf, put it on the river away from a historic neighborhood where literally no one nearby will benefit from or wants it. An AMC makes so much more sense for locals/the neighborhood. Want the neighborhood/city to actually thrive? Make it affordable so locals can actually live there rather than hold your breath for a corporation to magically come save everything which doesn't happen anywhere. If we didn't whore out the tax breaks we'd be in the top 5 wealthiest states in the country btw. lol
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while I agree it may not be the most physically attractive development in the world, I dont buy the bait and switch argument. Any development of this size goes through many iterations from concept to reality. I am sure the developers are reacting to the needs to prospective tenants while also trying to balance that the river parcels are the most valuable portion of the RDNI district and therefore the logical place for high value portions of the development. Just because their original plan showed something in one place does not mean that is how it has to be from now to eternity. Even if they were talking to top golf at that time, it doesnt mean top gold had made a decision on where in the river district they wanted to be. Thats called working through a development project, not a bait and switch.
Also it needs to be stated that your understanding of the RDNI deal and top golf deal are fundamentally incorrect. RDNI is a consortium of developers that master lease the land parcels which are owned by the convention center, not the city. The convention center and the city are two different things. But as a public entity the convention center doesnt pay property tax. So all those vacant lots currently generate $0 for the city. For the shell deal, the developers of RDNI are asking for a tax break that freezes taxes at current levels (ie zero) for 15 years. That break doesnt go to shell, it goes to RDNI developers to help make the numbers work to build an office building that they can then turn around and lease to shell. The shell deal is an important first step to build momentum for the greater river district and ultimately provides the city with a new class A office building and an anchor tenant to make the overall project work. In 15 years shell could leave and another tenant could come in. Also in 15 years the property would be paying property taxes which by my count is better than the zero dollars in property taxes it currently pays. Shell doesnt own the building they are leasing it. To cover the high costs of construction shell is probably paying way more in rent than they do at their current building. So viewed that way, shell is making a strong commitment to the city, which in a city with declining population, weak economic growth and few stable employers is a good thing. Those workers in the district will support new retail in the district which in turns creates jobs and provides new sales taxes to the city. Again, something positive for the city vs nothing as it currently sits.
For top golf, there is no similar tax break as the shell deal. The RDNI developers are leasing the land from the convention center and then turning around and leasing the land to top golf. It will generate sales tax, employment and property tax from day one. Again, that site currently generates zero in property tax income because its owned by the convention center. The only thing at issue is whether the city and convention center do a land swap so that Melpomene street can jog around the full length of top golf. Thats it. No subsidies, no shady dollars, just a land swap between public entities to jog an underused section of Melpomene street.
As an affordable housing developer i can tell you that affordable housing development only happens with a huge amount of public subsidy. I am sure the RDNI development team will be hard at work trying to get those subsidies over the next few years. If you really want to see affordable housing creation, you should be lobbying the council to allocate a larger % of the new tax revenues generated at top golf to fund adjacent affordable housing developments. Its way too easy to stand on a pedestal and say "we need more affordable housing" without doing anything to fund it. Affordable housing costs more than market rate housing to building and requires a boat load of government cash from feds, state and local. NOLA has done a terrible job of subsidizing this. If they did a better job, you would see more developers like me building more. But without more $$s for affordable housing (or a magic wand) all the cries for affordable housing will continue to be shrill voices screaming into an empty void.
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