$210M Bond Issue for St. Louis Convention Center Finally Moving Ahead
Date Posted: February 20, 2020
Posted In: Projects,
From St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Bonds to finance a $210 million expansion of the America’s Center downtown may finally be issued after months of disagreement over which city office would control the lucrative offering.
The city’s Board of Estimate and Apportionment — made up of Mayor Lyda Krewson, Board of Aldermen President Lewis Reed and Comptroller Darlene Green — on Wednesday approved the financing agreement for the city’s share of the bonds.
On Tuesday, the St. Louis County Council introduced legislation to approve its half of the bonds.
The city and county will each pay $6 million a year from hotel taxes for 40 years. Those payments now service the debt on the Dome at America’s Center, built for the NFL Rams when they played here. That debt will be paid off next year.
The St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission, which operates America’s Center, first unveiled the plan, then billed as a $175 million expansion, in October 2018. The city’s Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority spent years acquiring parking lots and garages along Ninth Street to make way for it.