Public-Private Development Projects
The consultant has played a full range of roles on major public-private partnership development projects, as exemplified by three projects described below:
1. Volunteer Landing was the first project created by the City of Knoxville to refocus on and revitalize the downtown Knoxville waterfront. The consultant at the time was the point person for the City on all aspects of creating and executing the project. The City used a commitment to build an $8 million public Riverwalk to recruit private developers to build over $40 million in projects including a restaurant (now Ruth’s Chris), marina, condos (Promontory Point and Riverside Landing), and apartments. In addition, the University of Tennessee was recruited to build a boathouse for its rowing team, and an Economic Development Administration grant was obtained to build a visitors center that today is the Outdoor Knoxville Adventure Center. Strategically beginning on the narrow downtown north side of the river has resulted in a for-profit development market that has now expanded dramatically to the south side of the river.
2. 4 Market Square is a highly successful, mixed-use, historic renovation on the public (City-owned) square in Knoxville and was a major catalyst in the revitalization of downtown Knoxville. The development includes a restaurant (Café 4), a meeting and performance space (The Square Room), apartments for 14 annual participants selected for the Knoxville Fellows program, and two floors of office space. The consultant assembled the partners to create both the concept for the development and the Knoxville Fellows Program, and served as the developer of the project in his role as president of Cornerstone Foundation of Knoxville. Partners included the City of Knoxville, for-profit tenants (Café 4 and Delta 21), the nonprofit organization that operates the Knoxville Fellows (4 Market Square, Inc.), two churches (All Souls Knoxville and Crossings), and four major investors in the property ownership entity that was created to carry out the project (4MS, LLC).
3. Convention Center Financing Act of 1998 – One does not always need to be the developer of a bricks and mortar project to have a huge impact on catalyzing public and private development. In 1998, the City of Knoxville had committed to build a new $160 million convention center. The challenge was that downtown Knoxville was not then perceived as a healthy visitor destination, which was a prescription for a convention center that would fail to attract new visitors and increased tax receipts that would pay for the center. The consultant assembled a team to conceptualize what became the Convention Center Financing Act of 1998. The concept was to create and enact a state sales tax increment recapture strategy that tied the future health of Knoxville’s Central Business District to the payoff of the bonds financing the convention center. Once the future legislation was conceptualized and drafted, the consultant recruited TN State Senators Ben Atchley and Bud Gilbert to introduce the proposed Act, and it passed unanimously. The Act has already resulted in over $30 million in new revenue to pay off the convention center bonds for the City of Knoxville, with an additional $70 million projected between now and 2032. More importantly, the legislation served as a powerful incentive that has caused every Knoxville mayor since 1998 to focus on the revitalization of downtown Knoxville as a top priority which has resulted in a destination downtown and significantly more than a billion dollars of executed private development.