Rio Nuevo Invests $3.6M and Advances $41M of Downtown Projects

The Rio Nuevo Board unanimously approved a $2,600,000 gap loan to Don Bourn and his renamed City Park project. Mr. Bourn explained that he has raised $5,000,000 in equity and approximately $10,000,000 in bank financing to develop a new entertainment complex at the corner of Congress and Scott, long known as the Thrifty Block. The City Park will include a bowling alley, a food hall, restaurants, a rooftop bar and outdoor patio.

Sales estimates are over $10,000,000 a year with nearly $800,000 a year of new tax dollars going to Rio Nuevo and the State. This site has languished since Bourn acquired it from the City in 2006 for a project involving a residential component that never materialized.

“We are thrilled with the new concept,” said Fletcher McCusker, Rio Nuevo Chairman. “We have residential developing in and around downtown, and City Park creates another destination venue and millions in new tax revenue.”

Rio Nuevo will take title to the land in order to assure that the project gets completed.

In other action, the Board authorized a potential loan of $1,000,000 to the Foundation for Senior Living to restore the historic Marist College and develop a 90-unit housing complex on the corner of Broadway and Church. The Rio Nuevo loan was the last piece of a $24,000,000 housing project.