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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA hearing to discuss plans for a $65 million downtown redevelopment project was pushed to August after city officials learned the site does not have the required zoning.
The city offered a rich incentive package to drive the redevelopment of the former Bank One operations center and an adjacent surface parking lot between New Jersey, East, Washington and Market streets. The deal with developer Tadd M. Miller calls for $6.5 million in tax abatements and for the city to spend $18.5 million to buy a 1,600-space parking garage.
The deal was scheduled for final hearing today in front of the Metropolitan Development Commission. But that hearing has been put on hold since a community group pointed out that the property is not correctly zoned for the project, which calls for 600 apartments and retail space.
MDC policy requires correct zoning before a property is considered for tax abatements. A new hearing has been set for Aug. 19.
The zoning oversight means the project also will have to be heard by the City-County Council, a step that officials in the mayor’s office had hoped to avoid.
Miller’s company has a contract to purchase the former bank property and an adjacent 1,600-space parking garage for about $18.5 million, and plans to finance the purchase with a bank loan.
The deal calls for the city to make all of the payments on the loan over a term of at least 20 years as part of a so-called “installment” purchase of the parking garage. The city would pay interest only on the first two years of the loan.
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