There has always been speculation that Redevelopment Agency (RDA) funds have been used towards Stan Kroenke’s multi-billion dollar stadium. Inglewood Mayor James Butts has been adamant that NO public money has been pledged towards the project. An Inglewood resident has submitted a simple question to 2UrbanGirls regarding RDA’s role in the building of the stadium.
What role has the Inglewood Redevelopment Agency (now known as Inglewood Successor Agency) played in the Hollywood Park Project?
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In June 2009, the Inglewood RDA entered into an owner participation agreement with the Hollywood Park Land Company (HPLC) which gave HPLC $3.9 million in infrastructure credits to create eligible public works improvements.
Related: Owner Participation Agreement city of Inglewood & Hollywood Park Land Company
This was cross referenced with the Recognized Obligation Payment Schedule (ROPS) which lists the agreement between the city and Hollywood Park Land Company having a 6/30/2019 expiration date. Inglewood Mayor James Butts is the chair of the 2nd District Consolidated Oversight Board which approves ROPS schedules for Carson, Compton, Culver City, Hawthorne, Inglewood, Lawndale and Lynwood, which are then referred to the Department of Finance for final approval. The board meets infrequently at Inglewood City Hall.
Related: 2nd District Consolidated Oversight Board website
In January 2015, the LA Times wrote that the project would receive significant tax breaks.
Related: Tax breaks do figure into NFL stadium plan in Inglewood
Plans filed by the Hollywood Park Land Co. — a development group that includes St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke — call for a stadium that would be built with probably more than $1 billion in private money, but which would eventually recoup tens of millions from Inglewood taxpayers once it opens.
A 185-page initiative plan filed by the developers earlier this month includes two paragraphs of how Inglewood would eventually reimburse the project for the costs of roadwork, utility work and public parks on the nearly 300-acre site. Meany estimated those costs at $60 million. The city would also reimburse costs of security, medical services and shuttles to off-site parking during stadium events, which Butts estimated at about $8 million a year.
LA TImes
USC based NeonTommy.com also mentioned nearly $40 million in redevelopment funds that were pledged to build affordable housing on the Hollywood Park project site, however, at the February 2015 council meeting, which 2UrbanGirls attended, the developer explicitly stated that the city said NO affordable housing at the project, only market rate homes.
The city loaned $18 million to The Madison Square Garden Company for the purchase of The Forum, and another $21 million to the Hollywood Park Tomorrow Project, loans that will both eventually be forgiven, both Cruz and Inglewood Mayor James Butts have said that the city’s relationship with these entities is mutually beneficial.
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Both developments are required to provide compensation to the city: $600,000 a year in revenue from The Forum, and $100 million in tax increments toward the Successor Agency from the Hollywood Park Tomorrow project, plus an additional $40 million in tax increments for affordable housing initiatives.
It appears, that any public works infrastructure improvements would benefit the amended project approved by Inglewood City Council in February 2015, and in essence, this NFL stadium is a public-private venture after all.
2UrbanGirls reached out to Gerard McCallum, with developer Wilson Meaney, on the exact scope of public works infrastructure work that was performed with redevelopment dollars and total amount of redevelopment dollars being used towards the project, and he had no comment.
