Bryan Rossman, the director operations for Adams Engineering in Tyler, speaks at a meeting of the Tyler Planning and Zoning Commission on April 3, 2018 in Tyler, Texas. (Erin Mansfield/Tyler Morning Telegraph) 

A new study projects that a controversial development proposed in the western part of Tyler would bring about $1.4 billion in economic activity to the area over seven years.

The study, funded by the developer’s representatives at Adams Engineering, contrasts a report the city of Tyler released in March saying the proposal would create a $7.7 million deficit in the city budget over five years.

The Hibbs Institute for Business and Economic Research at the University of Texas at Tyler performed the study for Adams Engineering, a firm that has been doing feasibility work on the project.

Adams Engineering commissioned the study after the city produced its own report in March saying the proposed project should be delayed because it would cost the city too much money in services.

The proposed project is an East-meets-West community on a 178-acre parcel on the west side of Loop 323, near Sam’s Club. The parcel has been sitting vacant for years and, in the past, has been eyed for a master-planned community.

Xing Tan, a Chinese businessman with business partners in the Dallas area, is the developer. His primary vision is to bring thousands of exchange students from China to study at the high school and college level in Tyler.

Adams Engineering has submitted a zoning change application on Tan’s behalf to the city of Tyler. The Planning and Zoning Commission, which decides on zoning change applications, delayed its decision on the application until the developer could produce an economic impact report. 

The Hibbs study says the project would bring $1.41 billion in business volume over seven years, including $495 million in labor income over that time frame. Both numbers are driven by capital investment and the new residents spending money in the area, according to the study.

The study also projects the area would gain an average of 758 new jobs over seven years from a combination of the capital investment and the new residents spending money.

The city would receive another $6.8 million in sales tax and $1.9 million in property taxes over a seven-year period, according to the study. Those numbers would nearly double in a 12-year period, the study says.

“The Hibbs Institute concludes that the overall economic benefits for the local economy from the planned Bellwood Forest Development are substantial,” the study concludes.

Early iterations of Tan’s plan called for towers as high as 15 stories and up to 6,000 homes on the property. The latest zoning application has scaled the vision back to 3,000 homes with maximum building heights of 12 stories.

Additionally, while Tan has said in the past he envisioned spending $1.6 billion on the project over a five-year period, the study assumes $574.7 million in capital investment over a seven-year period.

Adams Engineering issued a statement thanking the Hibbs Institute at UT Tyler and its leader, economist Rodney Mabry, for doing the study. “The study powerfully concludes the economic impact” to the community, the statement said.

Chris Burrow, the CEO of Range Realty Advisors LLC, which is seeking to sell the 178-acre property to Tan, called the document “a solid study conducted by a very reputable group.”

Burrow said the Planning and Zoning Commission asked very well-founded questions that “weren’t crazy questions by any means” when members decided to delay a decision on the project back in March.

In April, the commission delayed a decision on the project indefinitely at the request of Adams Engineering, which was waiting for the results of the economic impact study. The next commission meeting is in early May.

“We don’t recommend to our clients a sale to a party unless we’ve really done a thorough background check,” Burrow said. “Everything we’ve found out about this entity (associated with Tan) was really impressive and held up.”

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This story has been updated to correct an earlier version.