EDGE board OKs apartment tax breaks
Tax breaks were approved Wednesday for a Southgate Shopping Center upgrade that will include a Cash Saver grocery and two apartment developments totaling nearly 600 units in Binghamton.
The Economic Development Growth Engine of Memphis and Shelby County also approved a new tax increment financing district for the massive mixeduse Parkside development next to Shelby Farms.
The two developments in Binghamton, 176-unit Thrive @ the Park and an unnamed, 413-unit apartment building at Broad and Bingham, received the first tax breaks under the General Assembly’s recent expansion of the residential abatement program beyond the Parkways.
The approvals came despite an objection from a resident near Thrive @ the Park, Casey Hyneman, who complained that nearly 600 new apartments will change the character of the neighborhood of 160 single-family homes.
Hyneman also objected to a provision requiring some units to be set aside for low- to moderate-income residents, saying that went against the neighborhood’s efforts to revitalize.
Joe Kent, an advocate of reforming city and county economic development incentives, suggested the apartments didn’t need incentives and called on board members who’ve served four years or more to resign their seats.
Kent called for the board to reject a request from Hollywood Feed to extend its two-year-old tax break to 10 years from eight years, to give the company additional tax savings.
Hollywood Feed officials said the company had grown and created more jobs faster than expected, boosting employment from 42 to 108. The board approved Hollywood Feed's request.
Board member Johnny Moore pointed out that residents will have to earn about $36,000 a year to be able to pay the minimum rent at the development at Broad and Bingham.
The Parkside development on 60 acres on the north side of Shelby Farms cleared one hurdle with board approval, but needs approval by city and county officials.
Parkside would be built in phases, eventually having 1,400 apartments, a 130-room hotel and 33,000 square feet of retail and service space.
Tax increment financing would allow the developers to pay for public infrastructure associated with the development, including the proposed Shelby Farms Parkway, with a portion of additional property tax revenues generated by the development.
Neighborhood activist Gordon Alexander said the project is likely to compound traffic in an already congested area.
Alexander said, “People go to Shelby Farms for peace and quiet and to get away from the city. Now they’re bringing the city to them.”
Jen Andrews, executive director of the Shelby Farms Park Conservancy, said park officials believe the development will be a positive to the extent it’s sensitive to the park and spends money on a parkway that alleviates traffic congestion.
Belz Enterprises won a community builder tax break to redevelop Southgate Shopping Center, where the closing of a Kroger store left a gaping vacancy earlier this year.
Cash Saver owner Rick James said he believes his local grocery chain can succeed where Kroger could not because his staff understands Memphis and its neighborhoods.