$65M downtown development

A proposed incentive deal to kick-start a $65-million development adjacent to the former site of Market Square Arena calls for the city to fund the developer’s entire purchase price for two prime parcels. A local developer, Tadd M. Miller, plans to redevelop the long-vacant Bank One operations center (shown here) and a surface parking lot to the west into a mid-rise project with 600 apartments and retail space. His company, TM Miller Enterprises Inc., 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 developer also would get a 10-year tax abatement worth an estimated $6.6 million. But, if Miller fails to land financing and develop the property as promised within 18 months, all of the parcels would revert to city ownership at no additional cost to taxpayers. The proposal is scheduled for a hearing tomorrow by the Metropolitan Development Commission. The full story is here.