Redevelopment of Peoria, Illinois



The Warehouse District is adjacent to downtown Peoria and the Illinois River, just south of I-74.  The City of Peoria wants the area to convert to a great mixed use redevelopment area, with loft apartments, condos, offices, shops and resturants.


Redevelopments in the District will get the Enterprise Zone incentive, which means no sales tax on building material. The Warehouse District Tax Increment Financing District (TIF), which has over 21 years left.  It takes a while to plan and build and get the building assessed, so a new redevelopment will probably have about 20 years of property tax incentive.
 
Property taxes are almost 2.8% of fair market value, so you can figure on about 56% of the new market value you create coming back to the redevelopers over the next 20 plus years.  
 
The standard city warehouse agreement gives 1/2 of the tax increment back to the developer, with the other 1/2 going for infrastructure, which can include parking lots and decks.
 
Most of the buildings were built before 1936, and can therefor qualify for a 10 to 20% Federal Historic Tax Credit.

The entire area is in a Hub Zone.  This great program enables small businesses who qualify to get the equivalent of minority business status.  Read it on the blog under Hub Zone.   http://hubzonepeoria.blogspot.com/
 
The area qualifies for a grant from the City to help low and moderate income buy homes. The grant is $10,000, and single persons earning under $35,000 are qualified. There is also low interest mortgage money available.  More info on the blog.  
http://housingpeoria.blogspot.com/
 
Banks also have some additional mortgage down payment assistance programs.  
 
The City is also developing the Peoria Urban Living Iniative with partners Methodist, OSF, Cat, Bradley U, the County, School District and City. This study is looking at possible additional incentives to get companies to help employees live close to work and in the downtown area.

More info on the blog below. Check out the Warehouse, TIF, Hub Zone, etc under: 
 
http://www.peoriaed.blogspot.com