McKinney City Council members approved the agreement during an Oct. 21 meeting after TIRZ board members approved funding the same day.
The overview
The $9.4 million is being appropriated from the city’s TIRZ fund in order to pay for impact fees and offsite infrastructure improvements. The agreement also authorizes up to $30.6 million to pass through TIRZ-captured revenues and go back to the developer.
What that means is that a portion of revenues generated on the Sunset Amphitheater property would go back to pay Venu instead of to the TIRZ fund, Assistant City Manager Jennifer Arnold said.
“What this does is it helps to draw down on some of the obligations that the city would otherwise have to foot the bill for,” Arnold said.
That funding will be appropriated annually through fiscal year 2041-42 and will be capped based on actual tax revenues generated, according to a city document.
More information
Officials broke ground on the Sunset Amphitheater earlier this year. The project, located within TIRZ 1, is expected to open in 2026 with 20,000 seats, and could host up to 70 shows a year.
The city of McKinney, McKinney Economic Development Corporation and McKinney Community Development Corporation entered into an economic development agreement with Venu in 2024 that included more than $50 million in incentives.
The money appropriated from the TIRZ 1 fund is being used to pay a portion of the city’s financial obligations under that agreement, which includes covering the cost of impact fees and offsite infrastructure improvements.
