What Should Crestwood Do?

The Crestwood Tax Increment Financing (TIF) proposal is dead, at least temporarily. Joining it in death is Crestwood Mall, also perhaps temporarily. City officials in Crestwood did the unthinkable and actually questioned the basis for giving large sums of public money to private developers. In return, the developer has reacted to not getting millions of dollars of other people’s money by closing Crestwood Mall (a.k.a. Crestwood Court), and pulling out of talks with the city. That is fine — it is what I would expect.

Perhaps more surprisingly, the city’s urban planning partner, PGAV, has stopped working with Crestwood because, for once, a city didn’t do exactly what PGAV told them to do. Here’s hoping that this example of a city listening to its residents and voters instead of its planning consultants gains a lot of traction.

From a municipal finance perspective, Crestwood’s solution to the closure of the mall is straightforward: join the sales tax pool. As of 2010, Crestwood was receiving $189 per capita for its general sales tax, while the pool cities received about $116 per capita. However, the $189 number has probably gone down a lot since then, and is certainly going to go down fast now that the mall has closed. Joining the sales tax pool is the answer for city finances, both short-term and long-term. Would some services have to be reduced and some taxes raised? Perhaps. But responding to this situation by trying to resuscitate a failed mall with a huge TIF would be insane. Just look at Northwest Plaza to see how that simply will not work.

From the perspective of what to do with the space, that is going to require a commitment to patience and a faith in free markets. Just look at our recent (and now very timely) video about the rejected TIF in Olivette as an example of how good things can and will come without huge incentives if you give it time.

I went to Crestwood Mall plenty when I was younger. I remember its glory days. Those days are not coming back. Reacting to the closure with some huge tax subsidy and more corporate welfare won’t work either. No matter how grandiose the planner’s dreams may be, it does not justify taking other people’s money to give out more corporate welfare. Crestwood officials deserve great credit for their judiciousness so far. Here’s hoping it holds.