Visionary developers are being courted aggressively by city leaders throughout the country. They are also in high demand by other public officials, including university planners, transit authorities, county officials, school administrators and public hospital leaders. There’s a reason for this new popularity – mixed-use development has become one of the hottest new tools for generating revenue that public officials badly need.
Urban developments are the perfect vehicle for blending together retail, housing, entertainment, parks, health care and cultural facilities to create “communities” that attract people and businesses. This type of project is every municipal leader’s dream because of the benefits that are possible.
New development projects increase property tax and sales tax revenues. They result in economic stimulus that lasts for decades. And, if these projects are collaborative in nature, they also produce new revenue streams for cities. Falls Church, Virginia, analyzed eight mixed-use developments recently and reported that the projects generated $3.8 million in net revenue annually. Gross revenue of $10.6 million per year was generated by the projects when all city tax sources were included.
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