City of Frisco officials see the $122.75 million Wade Park economic incentive agreement as an investment with huge potential for return, much like previous landmark projects in Frisco's history.

In exchange for the $122.75 million, by the end of 2017, Wade Park developers have agreed to build 550,000 square feet of retail, entertainment, hotel and restaurant space; a 16-story office building; and to provide mostly stacked, not sprawling parking.

Longtime City Councilman and former Frisco Economic Development Corp. member, Bob Allen, compared the money being invested in Wade Park to the investment in Stonebriar Centre more than 15 years ago.

"We're at 55 percent to 60 percent built-out, so we've got to start getting smarter, [with development]," he said.

Stonebriar and the retail surrounding it in Frisco Bridges, which together cover about 750 acres, generate about $5 million, or $7,000 per acre, in annual revenue, Allen said. Wade Park's first 125-acre phase is expected to generate about $6.9 million, or $55,000 per acre, in annual revenue.

"We are going to have a higher tax revenue per acre than anything we've ever had before," Allen said.

Allen said with the Wade Park agreement the city has taken an area significantly smaller than the 750 acres Stonebriar Centre and Frisco Bridges sit on and increased the value of it by offering incentives.

Investing to grow Frisco

The FEDC has facilitated Frisco's major development projects since its establishment.

As allowed by the state, Frisco voters in 1991 approved the funding of the nonprofit FEDC, which receives 1/2 cent of every dollar in sales tax revenue the city collects.

The FEDC's goal with economic incentive deals is essentially to help increase the city's tax base, bring job opportunities to the area and enhance the city's quality of life, FEDC President Jim Gandy said.

Gandy said he thinks of the FEDC as the city's investment bank.

"We take public funds as authorized by state law and Frisco voters, and we reinvest those in our city," he said. "We are generally doing that in partnership with private investment. For every dollar we are putting in, we are usually getting multiple dollars invested in the community."

Having economic incentives is a big reason why Frisco has grown and remains competitive for drawing businesses, Gandy said.

"I don't know how to say how important [economic incentives are], because it's so important," Gandy said. "It's been one of the major keys or ingredients to Frisco's success."

The Stonebriar Centre effect

In the days before Stonebriar Centre, which opened in 2000, when prospects were shown mostly green fields, most of the FEDC incentives were rooted in building infrastructure improvements, such as roads, Gandy said.

The city invested a total of $42 million to $45 million in Stonebriar, Gandy said.

"That was a big bite for the city in those days, but we were competing with a neighbor to our south [Plano], and we knew we had to be aggressive," Gandy said.

The mall served as a springboard for an even larger tax base when throughout the next few years more than 4.6 million square feet of retail surrounded the mall.

That sales tax increase in turn provided a large boost to the FEDC budget, Gandy said.

"Frisco was not really a competitor until we started getting some horsepower," Gandy said. "When that mall landed over there, we had some horsepower coming in."

'Earn as you go'

The FEDC rarely offers economic incentives before a company is established in Frisco. Instead, companies earn incentives by meeting goals—by providing a number of jobs, for example—spelled out in an economic incentive agreement on an "earn-as-you-go" basis, Gandy said.

"We never give anyone money—they have to earn it," Gandy said. "We are building revenue streams, which generates return on investment."

Advance incentives are often used in the form of fixed assets, and improvements—such as roads and utilities—that will remain an asset to the city whether the business stays in the community. Such is the case with the Dallas Cowboys headquarters and multiuse development.

"We didn't write Mr. [Jerry] Jones a check," Gandy said. "We didn't give him the money. All that money is going into fixed asset improvements. Our money is going into those facilities and that money is going to remain in Frisco whether the Cowboys stay or not."