Quote:
Originally Posted by combusean
Don't have a subscription to the PBJ, but I'd love to see their justification for a tax abatement in the hottest office submarket in like a five state area.
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The justification is always the same: the project doesn't pencil out at this rate so we need it. It used to be, rents weren't high enough to provide enough funding for the banks to lend. Now it's construction costs are too high. It's always BS: the banks would not fund the project if the margins were so narrow that it's only profitable with a subsidy.
The truth is Grady Gammage can get it for them so why not ask? Developer's job is to seek the best deal and it's available and everyone else on the lake got a deal, right? You wanna sell your building in 4 years and explain why yours is the only one who didn't get a deal?
Also, don't forget everyone on the lake has to pay for the damn lake, which has crazy high costs. So ironically even though the property is exempt from property taxes and wont pay the schools, the city doesn't care about that legal workaround and still charges them the property taxes for being in the lake district, which requires debt service and ongoing money. So they give out GPLETs like candy on the lake because they know that property owner isn't going to like paying 2 property tax bills.