[ad_1]
During the inaugural meeting of the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Sports Authority on Tuesday, city officials misstated that the master developer for the former U.S. Pipe/Wheland Foundry site is assembling a $650 million investment fund to help spur development in the area.
Mayor Tim Kelly told the sports authority board Tuesday that Jim Irwin, president of the Atlanta-based New City Properties real estate development firm, and his partners are putting together a $650 million investment fund for the foundry site, where a new multiuse stadium for the Chattanooga Lookouts will go.
Jermaine Freeman, senior adviser for economic opportunity for Kelly, also told the panel on Tuesday that Irwin has a finance team that’s working to form the investment portfolio to attract capital to the site. He said a member of Irwin’s team had earlier indicated that they’ve put together the fund of about $650 million.
(READ MORE: Groundbreaking on Chattanooga Lookouts stadium planned for April)
Freeman later clarified that information with the Chattanooga Times Free Press, stating by phone Friday that he had misinterpreted a statement McKittrick Simmons, managing partner for Sweetwater Holdings in Atlanta, had shared during a public meeting in July. That is where the $650 million figure originated.
Irwin confirmed by email Friday that the information city officials provided earlier this week was a simple misunderstanding.
Although the figure is incorrect and applies to another project in Atlanta, Sweetwater Holdings frequently works with New City Properties as a capital backer and has assembled a fund that will likely end up supporting projects on the former foundry site.
(READ MORE: Chattanooga City Council approves Southside stadium project)
Simmons told Chattanooga City Council on July 19 that Irwin is one of his oldest friends and best partners in the real estate business. They’ve been involved in many joint ventures over the years, he said, and developed a part of Atlanta now known as the Upper Westside, which is somewhat comparable to the South Broad area where the stadium is to go.
Today, one of Irwin’s biggest projects is called the Fourth Ward, Simmons said. The mixed-use development which is across the street from another project Irwin worked on, Ponce City Market, in Atlanta. At the time, he said in July, they were under construction with about $650 million worth of development, Simmons explained, including a new corporate headquarters for Mailchimp.
New City Properties and Sweetwater Holdings are like first cousins, Simmons said, and do a lot of business together. His company is providing the capital backing for the Fourth Ward project and would do the same in Chattanooga to support private development around the stadium.
Chattanooga and Hamilton County leaders announced plans for the $79.5 million stadium at a June 30 news conference on the former foundry site. During meetings in early August, the Hamilton County Commission and Chattanooga City Council authorized the creation of a 470-acre special tax district to fund most of the cost of the stadium and the formation of a seven-member sports authority that would issue bonds for construction.
Overall, Irwin expects that the estimated $350 million worth of investment that city and county officials have frequently shared as a baseline for development in that area is conservative and will likely far exceed that once the project is complete.
Reporter Mike Pare contributed to this story.
Contact David Floyd at dfloyd@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249. Follow him on Twitter @flavid_doyd.
[ad_2]
Source link