Eleven Cedar Rapids housing projects in fight for $20 million in state help

CEDAR RAPIDS - Up to 11 proposed housing projects in the city are competing for a piece of a $20-million pot of money in the state's new Workforce Housing Tax Credit program.

Five of the 11 just last month secured substantial grants from state-administered federal disaster funds, and the tax credit money would further assist the projects.

There is no prohibition against winning tax-credit money having already received a grant via federal disaster dollars, Caleb Mason, the city's redevelopment analyst, said Monday.

Projects can obtain up to $1 million in tax credits each.

Mason said the competition statewide for the workforce tax credits is expected to be high.

The largest of the 11 projects in the competition is downtown developer Steve Emerson's $13-million project to convert the empty former Iowa-Illinois Gas & Electric Co. office building at 323 Third St. SE into 32 apartments on the building's top five floors with a first-floor grocery if he can find one willing to locate downtown.

The 323 Third St. SE project, which Emerson calls Cornerstone Place, won $3.12 million in federal disaster dollars last month.

Hobart Historic Restoration LLC of Cedar Rapids also is seeking workforce tax credits for its $5-million renovation of the historic Kubias Building at 307-311 Third Ave. SE into 18 apartments. Last month, Hobart, secured $2.695 million in federal disaster funds for the project.

The three other projects that secured federal disaster grants and now are seeking the new tax credits are two TW Sather Co. projects, both 30-unit apartment buildings in the 1400 block of Center Point Rd. NE, and a second Emerson project, an 18-unit apartment building called Kingston Pointe at 210 Fifth St. SW.

Other projects seeking workforce tax credits are two other Hobart projects, a new apartment building called The Lofts at Red Cedar across First Street SW from the McGrath Amphitheatre, and the renovation of the historic Mott Building into the Mott Lofts along the river at 42 Seventh Ave. SW.

The Affordable Housing Network Inc.'s project to convert Monroe Elementary School into 18 apartments is also on the city's list of tax-credit applications, though Renie Neuberger, the agency's executive director, said Monday she wasn't sure the agency would submit an application.

Three other projects seeking tax credits are The Sanctuary at Ellis by NewBo Development Group LLC and two smaller projects by Sky's Edge Development in the 1000 block of Sixth Street SE.

The city must provide $1,000 per apartment in local matching support for any project that secures tax credits, the city's Mason said.

He said the workforce tax credits were put in place by the Iowa Legislature in 2014 to replace an Enterprise Zone tax-credit program.