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March 11, 2008
San Jose City Council approves cost/benefit analysis for stadium
This afternoon, the San Jose City Council voted unanimously to accept two reports on the economic impact of the proposed Airport West and iStar properties project (PDF summary here), better known to Quakes fans as the soccer stadium project. The reports had been approved by the city's Community and Economic Development Committee last week.
SSV board members Don Gagliardi and Colin McCarthy were on hand to tell the council of their support for the project, but we suspect that the numbers in the report spoke even louder than our esteemed colleagues.
For example, the report estimates the following:
- Economic impact related to the construction of the entire project of over $2.0 billion
- Annual economic impact of the soccer stadium of $62.3 million
- Annual net fiscal impact to the city's general fund between $1.8 and $2.8 million
- Annual net fiscal impact to the city's redevelopment agency of $7.7 to $8.5 million
- Creation of over 14,000 jobs related to construction activity and approximately 5,000 sustained jobs
- Generation of nearly $850,000 annually for arts and cultural programs through the city's transient occupancy tax (i.e., hotel tax)
We're particularly pleased to see a professional analysis provide a figure of $62.3 million for the annual economic impact of the soccer stadium. Many of you will recall the Visitor Projection Report which SSV published in March, 2007. That report, a project that was spearheaded by SSV board member Ned Zuparko, estimated the annual economic impact of soccer-related events at the new stadium at $65 million. Excuse us if we crow a little for being a paltry four percent off the expert assessment, especially after our numbers were ridiculed by John Ryan of the Mercury News.
We'd ask Ryan for an apology but sometimes being right is its own reward — especially if it means getting the stadium that we've advocated for the past three-and-a-half years.
The next step for the Airport West/iStar project is an additional study, due to be completed by June. We will, of course, keep you informed of future developments.
Posted by Jay at March 11, 2008 06:06 PM