There will be much, much more discussion on the topic of financing this project in the months ahead, but here’s a quick primer on the topic.

The public investment in this project — expected to be about $200 million — is called “project-based,” meaning essentially that the fruits of the private development end up paying for the public portion — the streets, the sidewalks, the new infrastructure, etc.  

This is by no means a traditional public investment in which the City goes out and borrows money out front and is left with all the risk. In this case, the developer will take the primary risk with the City’s interests protected until the results of the project — and the new tax growth and other revenue — become reality.

We have several mechanisms in place to make this happen, and the exact formula for how it will work is what the City’s team is now negotiating with Street-Works.

Like we’ve said before, the model we are working on is nothing that Street-Works has not done before. And I suggest perusing www.westhartford.org, for more detail on how that project was financed.