On June 26, Cincinnati City Council approved the expenditure of $12 million in tax increment financing (TIF) funding to support a loan of the same amount to pay for a parking garage and other public improvements, moving forward the development of the $77.8 million, 30-story apartment tower.

The loan was approved by City Council on June 12 as part of a development and lease agreement with Flaherty & Collins Development affiliate F & C Development Inc.

The City also approved the issuance of $12 million in economic development bonds.

The Indianapolis-based developer plans to demolish the outdated Pogue's Garage and its attached vehicular ramp and Skywalk segment and replace it with the tower, which would include approximately 300 apartments, a 15,000-square-foot street-level grocery store, and 1,000 spaces of public garage parking.

The City's contribution is roughly equivalent to the cost of retrofitting or replacing the garage, which has multiple building code violations due to deferred maintenance and is not ADA-compliant.

The $12 million loan will be forgiven if the grocery store remains open for at least five years. The City also will lease the parking garage to the developer for $1 a year for 75 years, after which time the developer has an option to purchase it for $1.

Work is expected to begin early next year, and the project will take about two years to complete.

Previous reading on BC:
$77.8M, 30-story Fourth and Race tower gets okay (6/18/13)
Planning Commission Friday: Pogue's Garage, Hyatt, Northside redevelopment (6/6/13)
City sells Tower Place for $1; Parking and retail coming (5/21/13)
Dohoney: Parking Modernization Plan opens revenue stream, keeps City control (2/21/13)
City 'FAQs' address parking proposal misconceptions, concerns (12/21/12)