Voters handed Downtown Development District Executive Director Davis Rhorer a major victory Saturday when they overwhelmingly voted to renew the 10-mill property tax that funds the DDD.
The tax renewal, approved by 78% of voters, was not unexpected. Still, it was significant because it was the first time new voters, who were included in the DDD’s boundaries under a 2012 expansion, were allowed to vote on the millage renewal.
“This is a strong mandate for downtown development,” Rhorer says. “This will give us an opportunity for all sorts of new development.”
The DDD now stretches from the river north to Choctaw Drive, east to 14th Street and south to the Water Campus site on River Road. It encompasses 2.2 square miles and includes more than 2,132 registered voters. The properties included in the expanded zone will generate about $87,000 in property taxes, in addition to the $500,000 the DDD currently collects.
Rhorer believes the outer reaches of the DDD are ripe for redevelopment, and he particularly sees opportunity to bring more residential development to the area. He also sees potential for new mixed-use development in the industrial corridor along Choctaw Drive.
“There is unused warehouse space up there, and there is also some vacant land, too,” he says. “That could be a job center location up there.”
The DDD plans to further explore the possibilities of the area by doing a master plan and feasibility study.
Says Rhorer: “We are going to start working now.”
—Stephanie Riegel
