OAK (formerly Penn Central)

[Pete]

It goes to the same small group of developers because there are few developers in the city either qualified or brave enough to take on extremely complex projects of scale in the parts of town where the City wants to focus redevelopment efforts. Where are the other developers who are willing to take on projects in the tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in the City's areas of incentive? They don't exist.

There have been many developers who have built things in the core that didn't get TIF.

[Midtowner]

Midtowner needs to step into the shoes of developers to gain a more realistic perspective on real estate development. Unlike SimCity, it's a highly risky and complex business.

It's not so risky when you take from a school district which primarily serves disadvantaged children to pad your bottom line.

[Midtowner]

It goes to the same small group of developers because there are few developers in the city either qualified or brave enough to take on extremely complex projects of scale in the parts of town where the City wants to focus redevelopment efforts. Where are the other developers who are willing to take on projects in the tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in the City's areas of incentive? They don't exist.

Oh please.

So if I take on a plaintiff's case and it is extremely challenging and complex and I end up getting a defense verdict, I ought to be able to expect the public to bail me out at the expense of public schools?

Why are developers so special in this regard? Why do they get to be unique in that their business model is backed up by the taxpayers? Are developers the only kinds of businesses that take risks?

[Urbanized]

It’s not about specific developers or whether they are somehow special or deserving. You have this incredibly twisted. It’s about what is a strategic need for the community, and what pushes the city forward and builds the overall tax base in the bargain.

Oklahoma City had multiple generations of disinvestment in its core and in areas like the Eastside, which has the added burden of institutional redlining for decades.

Try to get a conventional bank loan for commercial real estate in NE OKC. Try to build residential in the core. Try to develop much-needed and much-desired retail or mixed use in the core. Try to renovate a historic structure with environmental issues. But…only do so if your renovation can meet stringent design guidelines that don’t exist AT ALL in the suburbs. Try workforce housing. These things are virtually impossible without significant assistance.

Oklahoma City has spent the past 30 years trying to overcome the radical disinvestment that happened here for more than half a century preceding MAPS, and despite the progress we’ve made this city still has a long, long way to go to catch up. TIF is simply one of the most effective tools to assist in this effort. Your mind and the minds of some others on this site have simply become poisoned to this concept in part because undue and extreme negativity towards TIF here goes largely unchallenged.

[Pete]

^

Except the huge percentage of all private development has been done without any TIF whatsoever.

Everyone realizes something like First National or the Skirvin needs help.