(Washington, DC) – Mayor Adrian M. Fenty on Thursday 12/4/08, announced the District has awarded more than $10 million in tax increment financing (TIF) to three development teams who are building more than $100 million worth of housing, retail and parking on several prime corridors throughout the District. “These are great catalytic neighborhood development projects,” said Mayor Fenty.
“These teams are making real investments in our neighborhoods and we are doing everything we can to support these projects and bring them to market.”
Each year the District loses more than a $1 billion in retail sales to the suburbs in a large part because residents do not have enough high-quality, convenient places to shop near their homes. In an effort to help recapture this revenue leakage and revitalize several of the District’s major neighborhood retail corridors, the Fenty Administration, through the Greats Streets Initiative launched the $95 million Neighborhood Retail TIF program early this year.
The program targets seven corridors including: South Capitol Street, Georgia Avenue, H Street, Minnesota-Benning, Pennsylvania Avenue, SE. The District issued a solicitation for TIF applications this spring. The program is designed to provide gap-financing for qualified projects by providing financing to cover upfront development costs. Future tax revenue generated by the projects is captured to repay the cost of the initial financing.
The District’s Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development has awarded a total of $10 million in TIF for three projects in the first round of allocations. The office is now accepting applications for qualified projects for the balance of the funds on a rolling basis.
The three projects are:
- The Neighborhood Development Co.’s The Heights on Georgia Avenue at 3224-3234 Georgia Avenue will include 10,000 square feet of retail and 69 residences. The District will contribute a $742,000 TIF for the $25 million project, which is set for construction in late 2009. The project is expected to create about 54 new jobs. This project is being jointly developed by The Neighborhood Development Company and Mi Casa Inc.
- City Interests is planning a 530,000 square foot housing and residential project at 4001-4045 South Capitol Street in Southwest. The $108 million project will include a $8.8 TIF from the District and the construction could begin in late 2009. The project will include:
- Four Points and W Street Acquisition plan to build a $5.2 million retail and residential project on the 2200 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, SE. It will include 11,000 square feet of retail. The District will provide $1.1 million TIF and construction can begin in 2009.
