7 Cedar Rapids projects get tax breaks

CEDAR RAPIDS — Six housing projects and an office/retail project were pushed ahead this week as the City Council agreed to property tax breaks over 10 years for each of them.

The projects will total $39.1 million and create 107 housing units, including 32 in downtown and 28 at the former practice chipping green at Ellis Golf Course and Ellis Park.

The city will provide a total of $8.77 million in support for the seven projects in the form of property tax breaks over 10 years, after which the projects will be paying an estimated $1.04 million a year in taxes not being collected today.

Developer Steve Emerson's downtown project to transform the vacant, six-story former Iowa-Illinois Gas Co. building at 323 Third St. SE into 32 residential units with a first floor of commercial space is the most expensive project, at $13 million.

Emerson has secured a $3 million state grant to help with the project, which he is calling Cornerstone Place, while the city incentives will allow him to forego payment of an estimated $3.46 million in property taxes over 10 years. After that, the project will provide $345,800 in new property-tax revenue each year.

Emerson also has gotten a $3 million state grant for a second project, an 18-apartment complex called Kingston Pointe in Kingston Village at 210 Fifth St. SW. The project will get a $1.57 million break in property taxes over 10 years, and then will begin paying $156,940 a year in property taxes.

Developer Joe Ahmann is calling his chipping green development Sanctuary at Ellis Park, and it will feature eight stand-alone cottages, 10 duplex units and 10 townhomes in a $4.2 million investment. The project will receive a $1.12 million property-tax break over 10 years, after which it will generate $111,720 a year in property taxes.

Two earlier projects proposed for the chipping green area drew objections from neighbors prompting developers to set plans aside.

Among the four other projects receiving city incentives is the Affordable Housing Network's plan to transform the closed Monroe Elementary School, 3200 Pioneer Ave. SE, into 18 apartments. The $3.5 million project has been scaled back from one of a year ago, which the City Council supported over the objections of neighbors. The project will obtain a $931,000 break in property taxes over 10 years and then will contribute $93,100 a year in new taxes after that.

The project among the seven with the second largest price tag is an $11 million office/commercial development at 931 Blairs Ferry Road NE. The developer, Water Rock LLC, will receive a 44 percent property-tax break over 10 years, which is estimated to amount to $1.29 million. At the same time, the project will bring in $1.64 million in new taxes in the 10 years.

Two other smaller projects will add seven new homes at C Street SW and 13th Avenue SW at a cost of $976,500 and four apartments at 1023 and 1027 Sixth St. SE at a cost of $558,000. They will receive $259,749 and $148,428 in tax breaks, respectively, over 10 years.