Coyotes’ proposed arena, entertainment district expected to precede Tempe voters

Coyotes President and CEO Xavier A. Gutierrez told reporters Thursday that the Tempe City Council will vote on the teams’ proposed arena and entertainment district on Nov. 29, but sources told PHNX council is also likely to send the proposal to a referendum in November. , leaving the vote in the hands of the citizens of Tempe.

While the Nov. 29 vote will provide clarity on the councils’ view of the Coyotes’ rights proposal and the change to the general plan, a referendum would be the ultimate vote to determine whether the project proceeds. This vote would take place in 2023 on a date yet to be determined.

There is also the risk of litigation with a number of parties, including Sky Harbor International Airport, the City of Phoenix, the Goldwater Institute, or local citizen groups.

Any of them could delay the construction schedule of the project while both sides wait for the citizens’ verdict. Two construction schedules need to be considered: the actual construction schedule for the project once the shovels are in place, and the cleanup of the 46-acre site that has been used as a municipal dump along the south bank of the Salt River just at east of Priest Drive.

“It depends on what upgrades you want to have and what premium packages you’re looking for, but we’ve always projected around 23-24 months,” Gutierrez said of the build schedule.

As for the cleanup schedule: “There’s a site right next door that gave us a lot of information,” Gutierrez said. “We also did a lot of [soil] surveys during the RFP process that the city allowed us to do. So we think it’s between six and eight months.

It’s actually not that important, given what we already know. Obviously, one of the things that came out that we’ve always told people is this: you have to shore up the dike. So we’re basically going to build a bathtub, which is great from a foundation perspective, but also, we’re right next to Tempe Town Lake, so you’re going to have to shore up that levee.

The Coyotes have proposed an approximately $2.1 billion development that includes a hockey arena, hotels, approximately 1,600 apartments, retail stores, restaurants and a sports betting site. The team says the project would be privately funded, though it hopes to use some of the municipal sales tax revenue generated from the development to help pay for $200 million in additional costs.

The Coyotes would need to remove approximately 1.5 million tons of waste from the site. The team will then have to clean up the site before construction begins, at a cost of approximately $70 million. Under the original proposal, the team would pay $40 million for the East Plot cleanup and commit $8 million for the West Plot remediation, with the remaining costs paid through bonds. The bonds would also pay for infrastructure such as power lines, water lines, sewer lines, roads and parking on the northeast corner of the property that would be owned and operated by the city.

The team says the project could generate $154 million in new taxes for the city over a 30-year period, with $5.9 billion in direct spending in the city and 6,900 permanent jobs created.

Several outlets saw the proposal last fall, but the Coyotes also published a presentation last summer which highlighted the key points of the proposal.

The board voted 5-2 in June to move forward with negotiations with the Coyotes. Since those negotiations began, sources said the proposal has actually improved significantly for the city of Tempe, based on more concessions from the Coyotes. With that in mind, there appears to be majority support within the board for the proposal.

While some citizen groups oppose the project, sources said two separate polls were conducted of Tempe citizens and more than 60% of them also approve of the project; a revealing window into what the referendum might produce.

Regarding the threat of a lawsuit, two legal sources said Goldwater would likely only be involved if/when Tempe puts in place a guarantee for the revenue bonds. The airport has threatened to sue the construction of multi-residence units which it says violate a 1994 law intergovernmental agreement between cities, but this agreement appears to make an exception for soundproof apartments like the ones the Coyotes plan to build; a point that Coyotes attorney Nick Wood brought home at the board meeting in June. Several legal sources believe that the airport, and by extension the city of Phoenix, does not have a strong case.

Sky Harbor threatened to sue the city of Tempe in May. Earlier this month, it sent flyers to 100,000 homes in Tempe, Scottsdale and Phoenix, warning residents that new apartments could alter flight paths and create new aircraft noise over those neighborhoods. .

The flyers prompted a strong reaction from Tempe Mayor Corey Woods.

“I reject this alarmist tactic, he writes in a statement issued by the city. Our region is recognized for its collaboration and responsible actions. It’s unprecedented for a neighboring town to stuff the mailboxes with its opinion on an unapproved development project.

According to the requirements, the FAA would have to conduct a resident impact study before changing flight paths, a decision that aviation sources say is highly unlikely. As PHNX has previously reported, there are already several residences along the Rio Salado that Sky Harbor has no objection to. A Arizona Republic Survey found that the airport was at least aware of Tempe’s 2013 Papago Park Center and did not object.

Those who know Woods know how sweet he is, but he admitted the fliers made him angry.

I was really frustrated, he said. I’m always happy to talk, but that’s not the way to go.

While the aforementioned polls suggest strong support for the project among citizens, the project also appears to have support among business leaders.

On the face of it, you see a lot of opportunity with a project like this, but there are stakeholders that are affected, there’s potential displacement in terms of traffic and other things, so we formed a committee and we met for eight weeks with the idea that they would give a recommendation to the board of directors, said Tempe Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Colin Diaz. From Tuesday of [last] week, we heard this recommendation and proceeded to a formal vote. As a board, we support the Coyotes in this process, as well as the city’s due diligence in the process. We know there is still work to be done and there are community meetings, but overall, looking at the economic impact and looking at what it will mean for the city as a whole, to from a fiscal standpoint, from creating jobs to a lot of the programming they’re going to support, that checks a lot of boxes for us and makes a lot of sense.

Diaz said other entities were on board, but the chamber wanted to get a deeper idea of ​​the project.

We worked with the Tempe Downtown Authoritywho is also a member of my board of directors, and we worked with the Tempe Visitor Center this would also be impacted. But we’ve also met with the developers, we’ve met with the airport, and we’ve contacted the city, which obviously, given that it’s active negotiation, couldn’t really share much. Our thought was that we wanted to do as much due diligence as possible on all the elements that are available to us to have an informed opinion.

But if you only look at the finances, it’s a no-brainer because it’s new revenue that didn’t exist. You’re cleaning up an area of ​​town on land that would cost about $40 million, and part of the reason it never got cleaned up is that it would cost $40 million. Now you have a mixed use of housing and retail and a theater element and public space for ice.

Diaz thinks the project could have a ripple effect.

If you look at Tempe Town Lake, it’s the second biggest attraction in the state behind the Grand Canyon, with about two and a half million visitors a year, he said. This project provides three million per year. Obviously, some of them will overlap, but long ago people wondered if it made sense to expand the lake west. I think a project like this means it would make sense over time and then when you have a bookend business on the east and west ends of the lake you’ll start to put more emphasis on the activating that space, which helps in a lot of ways. It helps keep people and dollars in the area longer, it helps to have something for everyone, and it keeps the area vibrant.

While city council discussions on projects of this magnitude are often fluid, and while there are further public comments scheduled at council meetings in November, it looks like the Coyotes and their fans will have some clarification on the next step in that project before the holidays, a timeline that Woods and board member Randy Keating were hoping for when they spoke to PHNX Sports in June.

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