Photo Gallery
Hamilton County Commission considers tax break for Standard-Coosa-Thatcher redevelopment
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."
Boyle's plan for the Standard Coosa Artists Lofts calls for 170 rental units divided among five buildings ranging from two to five stories tall. The complex will use 300,000 square feet of space; a fire over the summer destroyed about 16,000 square feet of space.
In return for the tax break, the developer will rent only to people whose income is no more than 60 percent of the area's average median income while the PILOT is in force. The average median income for a family of four in Hamilton County is $61,300, according to federal figures, and 60 percent of that is $37,720.
Based on those figures, a one-bedroom apartment would rent for $615, Boyle said. Two- and three-bedroom apartments would rent for $732 and $839, respectively.
Commissioner Warren Mackey voiced support for the PILOT, noting the blighted area falls within his district.
"The community wants this project," Mackey said. "It's a good usage of PILOT money."
Commissioner Joe Graham voiced reservations.
"We are setting precedent, nationwide, for developers all over the country, that apartment PILOTs are easy to get in our community," Graham said.
Also Wednesday, commissioners voted 5-3 to elect Greg Beck vice chairman, defeating and replacing Randy Fairbanks. In September, the pair tied 4-4 for the post, leaving incumbent Fairbanks in place by default.
Commissioners Graham, Mackey, Jim Fields and Greg Martin voted with Beck. Chairman Chester Bankston and Commissioner Sabrena Smedley backed Fairbanks. Commissioner Tim Boyd was absent.
Before the call for the vote, Beck and Bankston argued whether it could even take place.
Bankston had just adjourned a recessed meeting from Dec. 7, and Beck complained the chairman did not ask if there was any other business to come before the body.
Mackey and Beck then made a motion to reconvene the meeting, which passed 8-0. Beck asked for a vote on the vice chairman position, since the September vote left the matter unresolved.
Bankston tried to head Beck off, telling him to bring the matter up again next week with all nine commissioners in attendance.
"We already have a quorum, Mr. Chairman," Beck said, adding he didn't believe the law allowed them to delay the process because a commissioner was on vacation.
Beck said he wanted to withdraw his name and nominate someone else, but Bankston said all nominations were closed during the September round of voting. Bankston then tried to shut Beck down when he said he wanted to cancel his withdrawal, which would have left only Fairbanks on the table.
"He withdrew it," Bankston said. "He withdrew his name."
In October, Beck and Mackey said they were considering whether to change the votes they cast to elect Bankston to the chairmanship.
Contact staff writer Paul Leach at 423-757-6481 or pleach@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @pleach_tfp.