Cincinnati City Council has authorized a Community Reinvestment Area (CRA) tax exemption agreement with Masi Realty to aid in the relocation of an art gallery from Hyde Park Square to Oakley.
Sylvia Rombis of Masi Realty plans to build a new two-story, 1,850-square-foot building at 3804 Edwards Road for her Malton Art Gallery, which features year-round exhibitions of contemporary sculptures and paintings that are free and open to the public.
The gallery, which was founded in 1974 and is currently located at 2643 Erie Avenue, also offers custom framing services and provides corporate and residential consultations.
The fifteen-year CRA agreement would be equal to a 75 percent exemption on the increased property tax value.
In giving up $19,200 in property taxes over the life of the agreement, the City hopes to gain $28,350 in earnings taxes.
Malton Art Gallery has two full-time employees and one part-time employee, and represents dozens of local, national, and international artists.
The total cost of the project, including site acquisition, is estimated at $704,000 and is expected to be completed by December 2009.
The site was originally owned by Dr. David Dahlman, who proposed a 3,500-square-foot office building on the site.
He eventually sold the property to Rombis, who razed the site's single-family home in November 2007.
Previous reading on BC:
Wrecking Cincinnati, 11/13/07 (11/13/07)
"Lead, Learn, Serve" in the Queen City
4 hours ago
2 comments:
So who is it that gives up the property taxes?
The county, at least for the life of the agreement. After it expires, the county taxes the total value of the improved property. Until that time, they receive property taxes equal to what they were receiving when it was unimproved.
I didn't word it very well in the story, as "giving up" might not be the right term depending on how you look at it. It can be argued that the improvements would never have happened without the CRA agreement, therefore nothing has really been given up, and there will be a net gain for the county in a number of years.
The funny thing is that the entire City is a Community Reinvestment Area. Now, would a prime piece of Oakley real estate right next to Rookwood go undeveloped for long without the aid of a CRA tax exemption? Not likely. Are any jobs really going to be created here? Not really.
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