Detroit City FC is seeking $88 million in tax breaks to help build its new $198 million soccer stadium complex as developers and city leaders promote the project’s lack of reliance on public financing.

Unlike the city’s other stadiums, the new AlumniFi Field in Corktown will take “no public funding,” Detroit Economic Growth Corporation Vice President of Real Estate Services David Howell said.  Public funding sources provided $564 million to build Ford Field, Comerica Park and Little Caesars Arena, covering 41% of the total cost. Details on the financing of Detroit’s newest arena were presented to residents Thursday as part of the project’s compliance with Detroit’s community benefits law, which requires developers to negotiate a package of local investments in exchange for tax breaks.

Developers are relying on three tax incentives to help finance a $153 million stadium, 421-space parking deck and 76-unit apartment building at the site of the former Southwest Detroit Hospital. The incentives, if approved by the City Council and a state board, will provide $88 million in tax breaks, the bulk of which would come from a reimbursement of property tax dollars during the next 30 years.

A brownfield redevelopment incentive would provide $74.2 million to developers through tax increment financing. It works by freezing property taxes collected at the site for 30 years and allows the developer to be reimbursed with new taxes generated from the increase in value caused by redevelopment.

Howell said the tax breaks are essentially discounts that Detroit offers to compete for development projects and bring jobs to the city. The Detroit City FC project is expected to create 142 full-time jobs, 1,030 construction jobs, bring $14.3 million in net fiscal benefit to the city over the lifetime of the tax breaks and generate $746 million in local visitor spending. 

“Incentives do not take city money and give that money to developers,” Howell said. 

The new stadium would be more than double the capacity of the team’s current venue, Keyworth Stadium in Hamtramck. Howell said Detroit City FC co-founder Sean Mann isn’t embarking on the project to get rich, he’s taking a major risk to get a 4.75% return on the investment, lower than the average return on development projects last year. 

“Sean is not doing this to make money,” Howell said. “Sean is doing this because he loves soccer, he’s invested in the city. He started this league.”

Mann has also drawn distinctions between this project and other stadium deals that have run into criticism, saying they don’t want “a sea of surface parking lots” and was careful to say it’s going to be a campus, not a “district.” 

“This is to create more opportunities and better tie together this community that has been torn apart for generations by generous transportation efforts“, he said at a previous Aug. 28 meeting. “These neighborhoods are not downtown, yet they are still regional destinations.” 

DEGC projections anticipate 44 events per year, including 17 home games for the men’s U.S. Soccer League, averaging 10,228 attendees and 20 non-soccer events. The stadium won’t be fully enclosed, but Mann said he hopes most of the seating to be covered by a canopy. 

The site generates $71,000 per year in property taxes. Howell said Detroit would receive $487,000 in annual revenue from property taxes, income taxes, utility taxes and other fees once the stadium is finished. 

Members of the neighborhood advisory council were also announced Thursday. They are responsible for leading community benefits negotiations and representing residents in an area near the project site. The group includes:

• Mari Anzicek, appointed by Council Member Coleman Young II 
• Sam Butler, appointed by Council Member Gabriela Santiago-Romero
• Sheila Cockrel, appointed by Council Member Mary Waters
• Martina Guzman, voted in by residents of the impact area
• Brianna Williamson, voted in by residents of the impact area
• Olivia Hubert, appointed by the City Planning and Development Department
• Msgr. Charles Kosanke, appointed by the City Planning and Development Department
• Danielle Manley, appointed by the City Planning and Development Department
• Blandina Rose-Willis, appointed by the City Planning and Development Department
• Daniel Patton, an alternate voting member appointed by the Planning Department 

Patton said their job is to maximize the local impact of the development, while Butler said they also serve to amplify community concerns. It’s a group with notable experience in community development, organizing and business development. 

Anzicek is a union electrical worker and owner of Southwest Rides bike shop. Butler leads Doing Development Differently in Metro Detroit and sits on the City Council’s equitable development task force. Cockrel is a former City Council member, while Guzman is a prominent journalist (she has written for BridgeDetroit); Williamson is president of the North Corktown Neighborhood Association. 

Hubert is an urban farmer with Brother Nature Produce. Kosanke is a pastor at the Basilica of Ste. Anne de Detroit and Most Holy Trinity Parish. Manley is Wayne State University’s assistant vice president of corporate engagement and advancement. Rose-Willis is an educator and counselor who organized a popular porch concert series in her neighborhood. Patton is a brand manager at Ford Motor Co. who said he’s worked with nonprofits focused on home repair and social impact investing.

Guzman asked the DEGC to provide a breakdown of how each taxing jurisdiction is impacted by the tax breaks, touching on a common theme in past community benefits negotiations. New developments raise the taxable value of property, and therefore increase the potential tax revenue for the city, county, schools and libraries. When a portion of the new revenue is captured and redirected to reimburse developers, does that take money from them? 

Howell said that’s not the right way to think about it. He said tax breaks are like buying a dress on sale for 50% off; the other 50% “isn’t going somewhere.” Howell said DCFC is getting a break on tax payments, but debt millages for the city and Detroit Public Schools are paid in full. A breakdown on the impact on taxing jurisdictions will be provided to the neighborhood group, he said. 

Theo Pride, an organizer with the Detroit People’s Platform and frequent critic of tax abatements, said the DEGC should perform a racial equity analysis to determine the impact of development “supercharged by tax incentives.” Howell argued tax breaks aren’t concentrated in the downtown core and have spurred development in neighborhoods like the 7 Mile and Livernois area. 

The neighborhood advisory group will spend the next month crafting a list of community investments and protections to address the negative impacts of construction. Several residents advocated for creating a new streetcar line down Michigan Avenue to connect key destinations in Corktown and walkable pathways to the stadium.

Mann said he’s “all for more transit” options in the area. He said he helped write the legislation, which created M-1 Rail, which originally managed the QLINE streetcar. 

Jesse Venegas, vice president of Ideal Group, said almost all of the labor jobs are expected to go to union workers. 

Council President Pro Tem James Tate said he advocated for the stadium to include elements that honor the history of the Southwest Detroit Hospital, which primarily served Black residents and was first in the city to hire and accredit Black medical professionals.