Is BWI serious?
Officials of the developer have asked the Anderson Redevelopment Commission to earmark $2 million this year and $3 million in 2017 to help fund renovation of the Wigwam.
The iconic, 9,000-seat gym (with surrounding classrooms and office space) is a beloved Anderson landmark and is revered across the state and by hard-core basketball fans nationwide. But it has fallen into disuse and disrepair since being shuttered by Anderson Community Schools five years ago.
ACS officials decided, understandably, that the facility was simply too expensive to operate, given that crowds at Anderson High School basketball games had dwindled from sellouts in the 1980s to less than 2,000 at many games in the 2000s. Plus, the Wigwam needed costly updates such as a new roof and a new heating and cooling system.
The city of Anderson has already forked over $100,000 to BWI to help with the Wigwam project.
Plans are developing for the Jane Pauley Community Center to lease as much as 25,000 square feet of the facility. And JobSource officials have a detailed plan to establish a "talent development center" in the Wigwam for athletics and the arts. It would include a performing arts venue and facilities for instruction in sports, dance, singing and visual and graphics arts.
The Wigwam project would also include multi-bedroom apartments and retail facilities to be constructed at the athletic field just west of the Wigwam complex.
In all, the project, BWI officials say, would cost $42 million.
They express confidence the money can be secured through a mixture of tax credits, tenant leases and private investment — and $5 million in tax increment financing (TIF) district money from the good people of Anderson. According to BWI, the city would recoup the money across the course of eight years through tax revenue generated by the Wigwam project.
While most Andersonians are fond of the Wigwam, a $5 million price tag with nothing to guarantee a substantial return on investment is unacceptable. The city is in dire need of general funds to pay for infrastructure upgrades and maintenance, as well as economic development prospects with greater potential to create jobs and tax revenue.
The funding request by BWI seems particularly outlandish, given that its financial commitments are mostly speculative, and that's not a good basis for the city to commit $5 million.
While BWI officials say they need the TIF money up front to enable them to secure several million dollars in tax credits, the city shouldn't be held hostage by this ultimatum. Perhaps Anderson could counter with an incentive-laced proposal that would commit smaller portions of public funding to be triggered when BWI secures tax credits, investment money and tenant lease payments.
With such concrete steps taken toward the realization of BWI's grand plan for the Wigwam, the taxpayers of Anderson could at least take the developer's request for more public money seriously.