iFLY Indoor Skydiving Eyes El Paso, Seeks Tax Incentives

Remember the rumor regarding iFLY, the indoor skydiving venue, and how they are said to be in "serious negotiations" to build one of their facilities in the Montecillo community in west El Paso?

Well, it's more than just speculation. It's a very real possibility. Bill Adams of Adams 1st Consultants confirmed the rumor via email exclusively to 93.1 KISS-FM.

Hello, I am one of the owners of iFLY El Paso Indoor SkyDiving. You are correct, we are in negotiations with the city and the landlord to bring an Indoor Skydiving center to El Paso right in front of the new Top Golf.

There's a catch, though. They want some of those tax breaks the city has been handing out like Halloween candy.

I spoke to Adams to get some specifics and learned his group is willing to count El Paso among its handful of locations if city officials are willing to give them economic incentives such as property tax and sales tax rebates. When I asked if an El Paso iFLY location was contingent on incentives, Adams replied it was, adding that because we're a smaller city tax breaks is a difference maker.

"Generally, when we put a facility in place it’s generally in a major metropolitan area, and [El Paso] is a major metropolitan area in the area, but it is quite small for us and it is a bit of a challenge. And although we do think we’re going to do better than break even this [tax incentives] does make a big difference."

He wasn't willing to say how big of a tax break he was seeking and declined to go into other details until an agreement is in place. I reached out to the City Economic Development department, and Director Jessica Herrera for specifics but they have not responded to repeated requests for information.

Discussion on the matter was on this past Tuesday's (May 15) City Council agenda but the meeting adjourned with no action taken.