The 619,000 m² area of the Jockey Club of São Paulo, valued at around R$95 million by the PGM (City Attorney General’s Office), is at the center of a discussion. This value is almost ten times lower than the more than R$860 million owed by the Jockey Club to the city in taxes.
The analysis is part of the administrative process in which the Cidade Jardim racecourse, in the west of the capital of São Paulo, is being discussed as a public utility.
Mayor Ricardo Nunes’s (MDB) administration aims to advance its project to create a public park on the site. According to reports, the city government intends to expropriate the area through a process called donation.
This means that a debt or part of it can be paid off in exchange for an asset. In the case under discussion, the debtor would only have part of the debt paid off.
Jockey Club and city council disagree on use of space
Despite this, the Jockey Club board does not agree with the intention of the municipal administration. In court, it contests the amounts registered in the active debt.
To prepare the estimate, the PGM study surveyed 17 areas in the same region, but applied a 90% discount to the value found. The devaluation occurs due to the zoning rule.
However, the racecourse is located in a Zepam (Special Environmental Protection Zone), which is intended for parks and on which multiple times the area of the land cannot be built.
Since the revision of the Master Plan in 2023, the area of the racecourse has been legally included in the list of public parks proposed for the city of São Paulo. Subsequently, the creation of the park was consolidated with the revision of the Zoning Law.
It is expected that a plot of land transformed into Zepam will significantly lose its market value in relation to its surroundings.
History of the racecourse
Founded in 1875 as Club de Corridas Paulista in Mooca, in the east zone, the racetrack moved to Cidade Jardim, in the west zone, in 1941.
The land is in a highly valued area and its surroundings have been the subject of discussions about the construction of larger buildings than the current ones. The main attempts to make changes, however, have not progressed in the recent revisions of the Zoning Law.
Jockey Club disputes debt
The Jockey Club management is requesting changes to the calculation of IPTU (Urban Property and Land Tax). The directors claim that they are basing this on decisions by the STJ (Superior Court of Justice).
Two decisions regarding taxes collected in 1990 and 1991 considered that the club was exempt from paying any amount related to those two years due to distortions in the calculation basis. This reduces the revenue by approximately R$140 million, in updated values.
In the tax assessment carried out by the city hall, for example, the constructed area is listed as 108 thousand m², while the expert assessment found 87 thousand m². In addition to these two tax enforcement actions, there are at least six others in progress, relating to taxes from 2011 to 2020.
According to the city hall, there are 500 ongoing lawsuits and the club has outstanding debts totaling more than R$862 million.