Posted: 12:00 a.m.
Thursday, June 11, 2015
Council to consider Manchester, Snider tax abatements
By http://www.journal-news.com/staff/ed-richter/" rel="nofollow - Staff Writer
MIDDLETOWN —
Middletown
City Council on Tuesday will consider a tax abatement for the Manchester and Snider building projects.
Council’s
agenda for next week was released Wednesday that included a pair of resolutions
to authorize the agreements for the community reinvestment area tax abatements
for 100 percent for 12 years on both projects. This is less than the 20 years
that was sought by William Grau, the Illinois
developer leading the project and the owner of the buildings.
City
officials said the abatement is valued at approximately $104,000 a year for a
total of $1.24 million over the 12-year abatement period. The city’s portion of
the property taxes that would be abated is estimated to be $9,660 a year or
$115,920 over the abatement period.
In
2010, Middletown created a community
reinvestment area to use all reasonable incentive measures to assist and
encourage development in the downtown area of Middletown. Based on state guidelines, CRA
abatements can be used for residential developments, industrial/commercial developments,
or a combination of both.
Grau
recently informed council about his $12.7 million plans to redevelop the
93-year old Manchester Inn, which closed four years ago and restore it back to
an operating 70-room/suite boutique hotel.
The
redevelopment of the Manchester Hotel building into a boutique hotel with a
restaurant, conference and meeting space, and additional commercial office
space as well as the historic ballroom event space.
“The
redevelopment of the hotel would also represent a significant step forward the
downtown area,” according to a city staff report.
According
to the proposed agreements, work was scheduled to begin on June 1 and be
completed by Dec. 31, 2016 and is expected to create 73 new full- and part-time
jobs between Jan. 1, 2017 and Dec. 29, 2016. The dates were changed from a
previous document to reflect the new time frames.
Matt
Eisenbraun, the city’s assistant economic development director said in his
staff report the new hotel employees should generate about $860,000 in additional
annual payroll.
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