With the Hamilton County Commission approving a key funding mechanism and the creation of a body to oversee the issuance of bonds, plans to construct a new $79.5 million multiuse stadium for the Chattanooga Lookouts on the former U.S. Pipe/Wheland Foundry site have cleared another hurdle.
“We’re thrilled that we’re one step closer to moving forward,” Lookouts managing owner Jason Freier told the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
The commission voted to draw a 470-acre special tax district including the proposed stadium site, a designation that would have a lifespan of 30 years. Through a method called tax increment financing, a portion of new property tax revenue generated by surrounding development would fund most of the cost of the stadium.
Commissioners also authorized the formation of a new sports authority with a seven-member board of directors that would issue the 30-year bonds needed to construct the facility. The sports authority would also own the finished stadium project, which would sit on about 8 acres of land donated by Perimeter Properties.
The votes were 8-1, with Commissioner Tim Boyd, R-East Brainerd, voting no.