Downtown incentives have brought in nine projects worth $60M

A package of incentives approved last fall to spur downtown development has already roped in almost $60 million worth of projects. Nine projects have been approved for grants and other incentives so far, according to an update that goes Monday to the city’s planning, heritage and economic development standing committee. They range from facade improvements for several storefronts to a $33-million, 120-unit residential building planned for a parking lot at Victoria Avenue and Park Street. The 16-storey Glenkash Luxury Suites, being developed by businessman Parkash Ramchandani of SIND Investments Ltd., will be the biggest residential project in the downtown in decades. The main focus of the city’s community improvement plan is to bring more residents to the downtown.

It provides grants for creating new residential dwellings ($2,500 per unit up to $50,000) and for turning upper floors of existing commercial buildings into apartments ($5,000 per unit up to $50,000).

But the biggest incentive is the rebate for the difference between current taxes on a property and the taxes paid once it’s developed, for up to 10 years.

The Glenkash project, for example, will enjoy $1.85 million in tax savings over a decade. A total of 179 residential units will be created by all these projects. In addition, seven new storefronts are being created.

Other downtown projects getting grants from the CIP program include:

Redeveloping the two-storey

■ former Don Cherry’s at 531 Pelissier Street into a $5.6-million, industrial-style, five-storey residential building with 24 units called The Hive.

The $13.6-million rejuvenation

■ of the former Radisson Hotel — gutted and vacant for the last few years — into a 163-unit high-end hotel, with a new restaurant fronting Riverside Drive.

The $3.5-million renovation

■

(well underway) of the Old Fish Market building at Chatham and Ferry Streets, with commercial on the ground floor and 11 apartments.

Peter Valente’s $3.6-million,

■

24-unit residential building on vacant land in the 900 block of Ouellette Avenue.

The value of the incentives provided to lure $60 million worth of investment totals $7.2 million, but only $447,022 is coming permanently out of the city’s coffers. The bulk of the incentives are for $6.7 million in tax increment grants in which the developer pays the full property tax on a redeveloped property, but is then granted back the tax increase for five or 10 years.

The assessed value of all these nine properties is pegged to go from $3.1 million to $30.4 million, and the taxes paid will rise from $94,518 annually to $765,726, with $671,209 granted back.

The report says that for every dollar in incentives provided, the city is gaining $7.85 in private sector investment.