(Credit: City of Hutto/ Perfect Game)
Hutto has successfully lobbied the legislature to get the State’s 6 percent Hotel Occupancy (HOT) tax and the State’s 6.25 percent sales tax to apply to the construction cost of the City of Hutto’s first convention center and convention hotel to be constructed as part of the mixed use project that will be anchored by Perfect Game.
“I want to thank Senator Schwertner, Representative Talarico and Governor Abbott along with many, many others, including our lobbying team led by former House of Representative Larry Gonzales and Emily Parks, our Assistant to the City Manager,” said City Manager Odis Jones. “This is a game changer and major first step of many more to come to make the Perfect Game deal and this development a reality for the Austin region.”
The nation’s largest baseball scouting organization, Perfect Game, is creating a state-of-the-art baseball complex in Hutto as part of a major mixed-use development bringing more than 600,000 people annually to Hutto along with the city’s first 150,000 sq. ft. convention center and convention hotel and generating a combined demand for more than 150,000 hotel room nights annually.
The project, a partnership between Perfect Game, Sports Facility Advisory, and Sports Facilities Management, developer Wolverine Interests LLC, and the City of Hutto, will reportedly bring $800 million in private investment, which will be the single largest economic development deal in the history of Hutto.
“This project will drive investment in our community with an economic impact of $200 million a year, and improve Hutto’s quality of life for our kids and the nation’s kids by providing them a safe haven in Hutto to nurture their self-esteem, mature as individuals, live healthier lives and achieve their dreams — whatever they may be,” Jones said.
This project will also reportedly generate more than $400 million in equity and more than $800 million of private investment at build out, of which the developers will spend more than $19 million out of pocket in Hutto over the next six months.
“The Hutto City Manager and his staff are marketing and developing Hutto in a Big League way,” Jim Leslie, CEO of Wolverine Interests, the Dallas-based developer on the project. “That gives private investors confidence in the Hutto growing market. Our private equity investors are extremely excited about Hutto and its future.”
City officials say combining an SFM events center and hotel was a natural fit, and they believe it will turn Hutto into one of the top scouting destinations in America.
“This will allow our community to get everything they wanted and more regarding our parks and recreation projects,” City of Hutto Mayor Doug Gaul said. “We are getting a substantial private investment into our community and will be able to leverage our bond dollars to go above and beyond for our residents.”
Perfect Game’s decision to create a baseball complex in Hutto, just minutes from Austin and Round Rock, is being called one of the most significant events in the sports tourism industry in the last 20 years.
“It is a true win, win, win,” Dev Pathik, founder and CEO of Sports Facilities Advisory, said.
Perfect Game is the largest baseball showcase organization in the country, with more than 11,623 players drafted by Major League Baseball.
“Perfect Game is excited to establish roots in Hutto, Texas,” Perfect Game Founder Jerry Ford said. “We look forward to helping Hutto and the greater Austin region achieve its economic and community goals.”
