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<br />former MCDA executive director, noted, "the cure can be worse than the disease" when it <br />comes to legislative changes. <br />The following examples illustrate the benefits and value of tax increment financing. <br />City of St. Paul. The downtown tax increment district in St. Paul required limited public <br />assistance but spurred large amounts of spin-off development. <br />Ten years ago, downtown St. Paul was deserted after work hours and on weekends. <br />Very little investment was being made to maintain and renovate buildings downtown; as a result, <br />these buildings were deteriorating and becoming blighted. <br />Two recent developments occurred in this TIF district, which have had tremendous <br />impacts on the city's downtown. First, the city issued tax increment bonds to acquire and clear <br />land for the Lawson Software office building and to build a public parking ramp on the site. This <br />building and parking ramp occupy a whole city block, which had previously contained inefficient <br />(in design, layout, and energy methods) and deteriorating buildings. The construction of this <br />new building has spurred development in surrounding blocks. <br />The Marshall Field's store (formerly Dayton's) was going to be closed because it was <br />one of the company's worst-performing stores. With the arrival of Lawson, however, the store <br />experienced an increase in sales and revenue. As a result, rather than closing the store, <br />Marshall Field's is renovating this building, will retain jobs downtown, and will provide city <br />residents with continued shopping opportunities. The block north of Lawson, which contains the <br />Wabasha Court, is also undergoing renovation as a result of the spending and pedestrian traffic <br />from Lawson employees. <br />The other development downtown that has had a major impact is the Excel Energy <br />Center. The city already owned this land. Using TIF financing, the city contributed site <br />clearance, new sewers, water lines, roads, and an underground parking ramp for the facility. <br />The construction of the Excel Energy Center has spurred private redevelopment south of <br />the block on West Seventh Street. Several new restaurants have opened and the hotel on the <br /> <br />13 <br />