Plans for two more fourplex apartment buildings have been endorsed by the Seward Planning Commission for use of the city’s Tax Increment Financing program.
The Seward Planning Commission on July 13 approved an application from Plex Homes, LLC, owned by Callin Ledall of Seward for $131,000 in TIF financing for the two buildings at Ninth and Lincoln streets, which is part of Redevelopment Area 3 created by the Seward City Council last August. Purchase of the land is contingent upon TIF approval.
The council is expected to act on the recommendation at its July 21 meeting.
Plex Homes is the second project to apply for TIF financing options after Area 3’s 116 parcels of residential land over 14.5 blocks north of downtown were declared “blighted and substandard” and eligible for the TIF program.
The first Area 3 project approved was the fourplex now being constructed southeast of Third and Moffitt streets.
The project has an estimated $1.08 million cost, including land acquisition. The two buildings would be on the northeast corner of a block that houses three apartment buildings and is zoned R4 for urban residential high density.
The two-story fourplexes would have 3,650 square feet total. Plex Homes plans to offer two-bedroom, one-bath apartments in the buildings for about $1,100 rent per month, Ledall said at the Planning Commission meeting.
Construction could begin as soon as September with completion next spring.
The Plex Homes project is expected to increase the property’s estimated assessed valuation to $1.08 million which would generate an estimated $14,981 in annual property taxes as cited in the redevelopment plan amendment filed.
The current value of the property is $20,000 with generated taxes of $276. The difference between the current property taxes and those expected after completion will be used to repay the $131,000 tax increment financing loan for up to 15 years with interest.
Redevelopment Area 3 is bordered by Lincoln Street on the north, Roberts Street on the south, North 10th Street on the west, and North Third Street on the east, but excludes the block between Roberts and Moffitt streets from North Fifth Street to Highway 15 and the southern half of the block between Highway 15 and North Seventh Street north of Roberts Street.
The excluded area was included in an earlier blighted and substandard designation that included the downtown area.
Based on its size and designation as a first-class city, Nebraska law allows Seward to designate no more than 35 percent of its land as blighted and substandard, often based on the age and condition of sidewalks, buildings and other infrastructure.
Seward’s Redevelopment areas include the Area 1, which is 610.2 acres and includes the Rail Campus industrial area, the second area that begins north and east of the Big Blue River west of 14th Street and runs to Second Street, Ash to Bradford streets, which is 167.2 acres, and Area 3 is approximately 44 acres.
Seward’s Building, Zoning and Code Enforcement Director Tim Dworak said the areas designated as blighted comprise about 20.6 percent of Seward’s total are a of approximately 2,977 acres.
