The East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority will need roughly $20 million to complete the planning and infrastructure work for all 200 acres of Smiley Heights, the RDA’s mixed-use development in Mid City that will consist of an automotive training academy, high school career academy, residential neighborhood and retail establishments.
While that may sound like a hefty price tag, RDA President and CEO Walter Monsour estimates the agency will only need between $6 million and $7 million to ready the site for what will be the cornerstones of the project: the Center for Excellence in Auto Technology—which will be part of Baton Rouge Community College’s east campus—and EBR schools’ High School Career Academy.
“Obviously, we are not going to need all $20 million at once,” says Monsour. “But we will need money for the first phase by the third quarter of this year.” Among the most likely options under consideration to pay for the project is some sort of tax increment financing, or TIF.
“The bottom line is, all options lead to public financing of some sort to kick-start things,” Monsour says. “Eventually, the development authority could end up acquiring enough assets that it could stand on its own and step into the role of private developer.”
Last fall, Gov. Bobby Jindal committed $13.9 million in capital outlay funding to build the automotive training center. That money is unrelated to the $20 million needed for planning and infrastructure.
Monsour says he hopes to have the details of a plan for the Smiley Heights funding worked out in the next couple of months to bring to Mayor Kip Holden and the Metro Council. In the meantime, he is also working on securing a permanent source of funding for the RDA, separate and apart from whatever is generated to pay for Smiley Heights.
One possibility is a small appropriation from the city-parish general fund that could service debt on a bond issue that would fund several RDA projects. Less likely will be a bond issue that voters would have to approve and pay for with a property tax increase.
“It’s a much more stable form of finance for RDAs, and some have used that,” Monsour says. “But I don’t think in this environment it is an appropriate request.”
