I’m always reluctant to make statements like this, because there are just SO MANY hidden little incentive payments here and tax breaks there and other various corporate welfare schemes. But as far as I can tell, it looks like Brand Properties, based in Atlanta, is going to be building a development next to BB&T Park in Winston-Salem that’s pretty much handout free. The only thing I can find is a parking deck that will be funded by the city and county. And while I don’t really see any reason that parking, too, couldn’t be handled by the developer, overall, I’ll take it. 133 hotel rooms, 313 apartments, and retail shops and restaurants all right next door to the ballpark. All it really needed was the ok from the city council.
This is the sort of thing that councils should be doing. Let builders build, let developers develop. Get out of the way, and these private companies can handle the rest.
