City approves lease agreement to build indoor sports complex

The city of Columbus is taking the next steps to build a new fieldhouse at the site of the former Fair Oaks Mall, with Columbus City Council giving its first approval this week to a lease agreement to finance the construction.

The lease with the Columbus Municipal Facilities Building Corporation would obligate the city to pay about $1.8 million annually from the city’s economic development income tax to repay about $29 million in bonds issued by the corporation for the demolition and reconstruction. That would take about half of the city’s annual economic development income tax revenue.

The city’s financial adviser, Andrew Lanam with Stifel Financial Corp, said that the project would not increase taxes. The city does not have the ability to increase the income tax rate, and there is no property tax backup for the lease payments.

The city envisions a roughly 150,000 square foot indoor sports complex on the north side of the former mall. The project itself would cost about $25 million.

The agreement recognizes that the city needs the fieldhouse to meet demand for indoor sports activities but doesn’t have the finances to construct it.

The fieldhouse costs would be in addition to the cost for the parks and recreation department administrative and community spaces in the mall, which would be repaid through a $11.5 million bond through the parks department that is working its way through the approval process.

The approval passed 6-1 with Councilwoman Elaine Hilber voting against the lease agreement, after expressing concerns about tying up so much of the income tax revenue for so long.