Downtown Fort Worth TIF district asked to contribute $1 million to Heritage Park renovation
April 23,2015
Reposted form Fort Worth Business Press
Downtown Fort Worth, Inc. is asking the Downtown tax increment finance district to consider putting $1 million into the planned renovation of Heritage Park.
The money, combined with $1.5 million that Fort Worth voters approved in the 2014 city bond election and about $900,000 raised privately, should “get us very close to our goal,” Andy Taft, president of the economic development nonprofit, told members of the TIF board Wednesday.
He estimated the project could be up to $1.2 million short of the cost of renovating the downtown park, which has closed for years. But that amount includes a “very generous contingency,” Taft said.
“Our hope is we don’t have to spend all that,” he told the board.
If the TIF puts up the $1 million, the project team would move aggressively into construction documents and related pieces, Taft said.
He estimated the project would probably take about a year and a half to complete.
City Council member Ann Zadeh, whose district includes downtown and who is a member of the TIF board, asked that Downtown Fort Worth, Inc.’s request be added as a TIF agenda item at a future meeting.
Scott Nishimura