Lecture Recap and Video: Fletcher McCusker on 'Rio Nuevo: Catalyst for Tucson's Urban Core'

Tax increment financing (TIF) is a value-capture revenue tool that uses taxes on future gains in real estate values to pay for new infrastructure improvements. Fletcher McCusker speaks about the history and impact of TIF districts, and how this tool was used to spur economic growth in Tucson's urban core.

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About Fletcher McCusker

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Fletcher McCusker, the CEO and founder of UAVenture Capital in Tucson, has an impressive track record of successful business ventures. He launched Providence Service Corporation, the first home-based behavioral health provider in the country, and transformed it into a billion-dollar business. Later, Fletcher turned his attention to revitalizing the then-stagnant Tucson downtown by acquiring a city block and moving Providence to this location. Fletcher and three partners founded Second Saturdays in 2010, and he was appointed to the board of Rio Nuevo, the downtown revitalization organization. As chairman, Fletcher oversaw more than 20 projects that brought new hotels, restaurants, clubs, concert venues, housing and corporate headquarters to downtown Tucson.

Following his retirement from Providence, Fletcher and partners established SinfoniaRX, a new partnership with the UArizona that aimed to spur the commercialization of faculty inventions. SinfoniaRX, along with the company that later acquired it, Tabula, are both based in downtown Tucson. Recently, UArizona President Robbins asked Fletcher and his partner to establish UAVenture Capital to commercialize UA technology.

Fletcher is a third-generation Tucsonan, University of Arizona alumnus and UArizona alumnus of the year, and he holds an honorary doctorate from UArizona.

Header photo by Bill Morrow, courtesy Flickr (CC BY 2.0).