Mayor’s Office Agrees to TIF Deal for Bellevue Mall

The Nashville Mayor’s office has reversed course from a few months ago and is now supporting the use of tax dollars for the redevelopment of the Bellevue Mall.

California-based FourSquare Properties wants to turn the struggling site into an open-air shopping center. Under the deal worked out with the Mayor’s office, it will forgo paying about $12 million dollars in property taxes. Instead, that money will help pay for construction of a new structure. That arrangement is called ‘tax-increment financing,’ or TIF, a tool that has long been used to clean up blighted, urban areas.

The Bellevue Mall proposal initially stalled in February after the mayor’s office opposed using TIF. But yesterday, Metro Finance Director Rich Riebeling says this project will lay the groundwork for all similar deals in the future. He says projects will have to be in a depressed area, private parties will have to contribute money, and there must be a public benefit. In this case, it’s a new library for the Bellevue area.

“It would cost a minimum of $13 million dollars in today’s dollars, and in return, we’re giving up $12 million dollars in TIF dollars, but we’re getting a new library. So, we’re getting more public benefit than what we’re giving up in future tax revenues.”

Riebeling says the developer will actually be giving up more than the cost of the library because the space would generate more cash if it were rented to a retail outlet.

Public Libraries Director Donna Nicely says Bellevue has been waiting a long time for a new library.

“The Bellevue Library was in the original plan over ten years ago and it didn’t get built. So now this will give us the chance to actually build this additional regional library. That will give us six regional libraries in Davidson County.”

Regional libraries are bigger, have more programming and serve a bigger area than branch libraries.

Nicely also says that since the library will be in the mall, it will feel a little more commercial and might even have something like a coffee shop.

Last night at a meeting of the Metro Council’s Budget and Finance Committee, several council members said they continued to be concerned about property taxes to a private developer during a tight budget year. However, committee members passed the proposal unanimously on a voice vote. The full council will take up the issue Thursday.

The $180 million dollar facility is expected to generate nearly $8 million dollars of sales taxes a year upon completion.