Jerry Riffel is a member of the Real Estate practice group of the Firm. He is in charge of the Department’s Public Law Team and has a broad background and experience in Tax Increment Financing Development, Chapter 353 (Urban Redevelopment), land clearance, condemnation, special business districts, economic development incentives, and all aspects of land use planning and development. Riffel’s most notable clients include: Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc., Kansas City Area Transportation Authority, Metropolitan Kansas City Performing Arts Center, National Association of Basketball Coaches Foundation, Bayer Crop Science, L.P., Herbst Gaming Inc., Cumberland Redevelopment Corporation, Zimmer Companies, Frye & Company, and numerous Tax Increment Financing Plans including the 17th Street TIF.
Representative engagements where Jerry has served as the principal attorney include the following:
- Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc. Representation of Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc. in the negotiation and development of a $500 million mixed-use facility in downtown St. Louis, and a second $350 million mixed-use facility at LeMay in St. Louis County. He handled countless land acquisition, land use, lease, environmental, and other issues relating to the development of these projects. Experience included finance and acquisition strategies requiring coordination of various governmental entities to finance and acquire large parcels of real property necessary to accomplish the developments. Additional work included representing Pinnacle's interests in negotiation and preparation of agreements with engineers, appraisers, surveyors and others involved with these two major development projects. Representation also included representing Pinnacle in its licensing process before the Missouri Gaming Commission.
- Faultless Starch Bon Ami and Butler Manufacturing. Served as land use, acquisition, legislative, finance and development counsel on the development of Butler World Headquarters and the expansion of Faultless industrial facilities in the West Bottoms area of downtown Kansas City. The results included obtaining over $15,000,000 in stormwater, road, and other infrastructure funding through complex and varied sources that included the federal budget, Brownfields, and economic development sources at the federal, state and local levels. The City as an incentive to Butler also financed the construction of a 1000 car garage known as the West Bottoms Garage. The scope of work included the negotiation of sale-leaseback arrangements with the Planned Industrial Expansion Authority which financed the Butler garage and issued revenue bonds for redevelopment of the Butler World Headquarters improvements.
- Hearst-Argyle Stations, Inc. Representation of Hearst-Argyle in the development of a headquarters building and broadcasting facilities for KMBC-TV in Kansas City that included acquisition of headquarters site, negotiation of state and local incentives, preparation of construction and development agreements, land use decisions, and business association covenants and restrictions.
- Metropolitan Kansas City Performing Arts Center. Representation of the Metropolitan Kansas City Performing Arts Center in the development of its $320 million state-of-the-art performing arts center in downtown Kansas City. The Performing Arts Center will house the three largest performing arts institutions in Greater Kansas City - the Kansas City Symphony Orchestra, the Kansas City Ballet and the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. Representation includes negotiation of a Tax Credits for Contribution package with the Missouri Development Finance Board, resulting in the issuance of Tax Credits in the amount of $25,000,000. The representation also includes negotiation of all conditions of the City of Kansas City's financing of a 2,000-space underground public parking garage to be used by the Performing Arts Center with a public park above the facility.
- Bayer CropScience, L.P. Representation of Bayer CropScience in the development of its $40 million alzol-fungicide facility. The project was developed and financed in accordance with Missouri's Chapter 100 abatement program and involved negotiation of property tax exemption and payments in-lieu-of taxes, industrial revenue bond documents, and negotiation of a Grant Agreement with the Kansas City, Missouri School District. Project was also developed with assistance of Development Tax Credits and involved negotiation with the Missouri Department of Economic Development, preparation of application and related documents.
- Hispanic Economic Development Corporation/Zimmer Development Company. Representation of the developer on an industrial development project on Kansas City's west side. The development was begun by Zimmer Development Company pursuant to various city and federal requirements keyed by federal grants and a Section 108 loan totaling $14.2 million to the City of Kansas City. The project is now completed and is located on old railroad property adjacent to Southwest Boulevard. Kansas City-based DST owns and operates a massive mutual fund mail center on the site in a series of redeveloped buildings and in the renovated Union Station Roundhouse on the property. The property was blighted by industrial-related environmental problems and is considered to have historical value by the State of Missouri. The scope of work required the selection of tax incentives and the negotiation of Brownfields and other incentives from the City of Kansas City in the State of Missouri. Otherwise, the project was financially unfeasible. The scope of work also included the negotiation of Section 106 and environmental remediation plans with the State of Missouri. Other issues included MBE and WBE requirements and the Uniform Relocation Act.
- Union Hill TIF. Representation of the Developer in the Union Hill area of Kansas City, Missouri, on a mixed-use project that included office, housing and hotel developments. The construction of infrastructure and acquisition of blighted property was financed by a bond issue of the Tax Increment Financing Commission based upon PILOTS generated by the general neighborhood and a Super TIF approved by the City on a hotel on Main Street. Significant benefits would have been lost to the developer if the approval had not been secured in a timely fashion. Our representation was critical to several public-private partnerships and the assistance of Kansas City's large business corporate community played a vital role in the success of the project.
