“I think it is more than timely, and without it we’d lose the one economic development tool that we have in Arizona."”

Peoria Mayor Cathy Carlat

Development in the P83 corridor will have more economic potential with the help of a new designation given to the area by the Peoria City Council.

In a unanimous vote on Tuesday, Sept. 8, the Council approved designated the area that includes P83 as a “central business district,” a move that will allow the use of a specialized property tax abatement to help lure in development.

Peoria Mayor Cathy Carlat said despite the area’s growth during the past 20 to 30 years, there are portions of it that continue to need help.

“I think it is more than timely, and without it we’d lose the one economic development tool that we have in Arizona," she said.

What it could allow are moves used by other cities such as Tempe that have helped to lure in office development in particular in an area of the Valley that has a dearth of such product.

Peoria Planning Director Chris Jacques told councilors at the meeting  the move was designed to give the city more economic tools to develop the area, which includes the Peoria Sports Complex, a number of restaurants, some hotels, retail and office.

“In Peoria, whereas Old Town is the cultural heart of the city, P83 really functions as the economic heart,” he said.

The central business district designation, created by the state in 2010, allows cities to use a special tax abatement process known as a government property lease excise tax, or GPLET, as a potential lure for developers.

The abatement works through a public-private partnership where a developer will grant a project to the city and then lease back the building. Taxes on the property are then lessened because it is government owned, and taxes can be abated for up to eight years under state law.

“The whole idea is that it will spur redevelopment in an area with greater tax revenues downstream,” Mr. Jacques said.

The Peoria central business district will stretch from Bell Road on the north to Skunk Creek on the south and from Loop 101 to roughly 73rd Avenue, Jacques said.

Much of that area has been developed, but the city is planning more with the Stadium Point project, a 1 million-square-foot mixed-use development destined for the west parking lot at the Sports Complex.

In addition to being in the central business district to qualify for the tax abatement, a project also must be in a redevelopment area, Mr. Jacques said. Councilors approved an extension of that North Peoria redevelopment area as part of their consent agenda Tuesday.

That redevelopment area covers much of Peoria’s major economic hub stretching from Thunderbird to past Bell Road on both sides of Loop 101.

“We do believe the plan continues to serve as a framework for redevelopment,” Jacques said.