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Hamilton County Commission considers tax break for Standard-Coosa-Thatcher redevelopment [photos]

The Standard Coosa Thatcher mill, which was damaged by a 2-alarm fire in July, is seen Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tenn. The city will consider an 18-year tax break for the $57.5 million redevelopment of the property into a loft apartment complex.
The Standard Coosa Thatcher mill, which was damaged by a 2-alarm fire in July, is seen Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tenn. The city will consider an 18-year tax break for the $57.5 million redevelopment of the property into a loft apartment complex.

By Paul Leach 4 min read

Hamilton County commissioners will vote next week whether to give an 18-year tax break to a developer who wants to repurpose the abandoned Standard-Coosa-Thatcher textile mill into affordable live-work-play apartments.

Chattanooga City Council members unanimously approved the break last week. The payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement freezes property taxes at the site’s current, undeveloped value for 14 years. After that, taxes will be phased in over four years. However, the developer will pay school taxes in full.

The former SCT site, located at 1800 S. Watkins St. and sprawled over 350,000 square feet, stands within a blighted area just west of Missionary Ridge.

On Wednesday, developer Tim Boyle, president of St. Louis-based City Property Co., told commissioners the $57.5 million project to rehabilitate and transform the mill structures cannot happen without the PILOT agreement.

“If this property was taxed at its full rate, it would be in excess of $325,000 a year,” Boyle said. “There’s no way in God’s green Earth that we can cover that in its current state with rents locked in and with expenses and what not.”