ST. LOUIS (KMOX) -- The plan for a Major League Soccer stadium in downtown St. Louis is now before the Board of Aldermen.Alderwoman Christine Ingrassia, who's sponsoring the measure, says it's expected to pass -- and it puts most of the risk on the ownership group.
Related: Ground breaks unofficially on downtown St. Louis MLS Stadium"Most importantly, they'll own both the stadium and the site itself," Ingrassia tells KMOX. "That really alleviates my concern in terms of what we've gotten ourselves into with an NFL stadium previously, and even [incentives for] Scottrade [Center]. The city just cannot be on the hook for multi-million dollar stadiums."The legislation outlines two separate one-cent sales taxes on concessions and souvenirs sold inside the stadium -- that would be achieved through new a new Community Improvement District (CID) and Transportation Development District (TDD).There could also be a third one-cent sales tax through the Port Authority that's also levied -- but the Port Authority would only be expanded to that site. This all means those who go to games or use the stadium for other events would pay those taxes, those who don't go to the stadium wouldn't.Alderwoman Ingrassia says, besides that, there's a lot to like about the deal."We have a commitment to prevailing wage and union jobs on the site for all construction workers, we have a commitment they'll be building to LEED specifications, specifically Silver Spec, so that's envorinmentally friendly. They're working with Ameren on the possibility of electric charging stations and solar panels, so that would mean clean energy at the site," she says.Earth started moving in the former police parking lot along Olive St. earlier this week -- although an official groundbreaking hasn't yet been set.Still up in the air -- whether existing businesses along Olive in the stadium's footprint will willingly sell or whether the city will apply eminent domain.
Additional editing and reporting by Alex Degman© 2020 KMOX (Entercom). All rights reserved.
