Government
BY KEVIN CUMMINGS
Richardson officials to void $47M in incentives tied to scandal-ridden project
Proposed Palisades Project The 79-acre site included retail, dining, a hotel, 600 apartments and a single-family subdivision.
City officials are voiding up to $47 million in eco- nomic development incentives to the firm behind the controversial Palisades mixed-use project. Nearly two weeks after former Mayor Laura Jordan began her prison sentence for bribery tied to the project, Richardson City Council voted unanimously April 22 to direct City Manager Don Magner to tell developer JP-KBS Holdings LLC that incentives related to the yet-to-be-fully-realized planned development project are voided. “Since the federal convictions renders the eco- nomic development agreement void, we have not and will not make any payments associated with the agreement,” Magner said in a news release. The background Promised as a multimillion-dollar mixed-use destination composed that included single and
multifamily housing. The project is located on the west side of US 75 at Palisades Boulevard. At the time the project was proposed in 2012, city ordinances prohibited apartments on the property. Over the opposition of numerous residents, then-Mayor Laura Jordan, at the time known as Laura Maczka, backed a number of rezoning proposals from then-managing partner of JP-KBS Mark Jordan before the project was ulti- mately approved to include multifamily in 2014. After a lengthy investigation, juries found Mark and Laura Jordan, who married in 2017, guilty of bribery and wire fraud in connection to offerings of money, gifts, sex and jobs Mark Jordan offered to the then-mayor. They were offered in exchange for the votes and economic incentives that allowed for the construction of the project.
PALISADES CREEK DR.
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SOURCE: GFF INC./COMMUNITY IMPACT
What you need to know The up to $47 million in incentives the city intends to void are related to reimbursements for construction and infrastructure expenses related to the project. According to the news release, the terms of the agreement were “entered into under good faith” at the time and that city officials were “unaware of the facts that later came to light in the federal criminal cases.”
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