cover
TO: Mayor Richard C. Irvin
FROM: John Curley, Chief Development Officer
David Dibo, Executive Director, Mayor's Office of Economic Development
DATE: August 23, 2018
SUBJECT:
A Resolution Approving the Reauthorization of Funds to Seize the Future Development Foundation (dba Invest Aurora) for Downtown building rehabilitation projects Known as the Finish Line Grant Program
PURPOSE:
The Purpose of this request is to reauthorize for 1 additional year Tax Increment Financing District Funds to the Finish Line Grant Program, which terminated June 1, 2018. The request also reauthorizes $450,000 in Finish Line Grant Funds; $375,000 in TIF District #1, and $75,000 in TIF District #3. With the reauthorization, modifications have also been made to the program guidelines to take into consideration the recent adoption of the new Downtown Master Plan as well as exception criteria for projects worthy of consideration under the Master Plan Implementation Matrix
BACKGROUND:
The Finish Line Grant Program, like the loan and grant programs of the past, has been a success in rehabilitating the downtown's older building stock and occupying, in some cases, buildings that have sat vacant for years. The program has filled funding gaps that but for the use of Finish Line Grant Funds projects may not have been undertaken. To date $1,451,581 of Finish Line Grant Funds have been spent or committed on 59 Downtown projects competed or in the construction phase. These funds have in part leveraged $14,820,998 in investment in the downtown. The attached spreadsheet and documents highlight those projects that have used Finish Line Grant Funds.
DISCUSSION:
The adoption of the new Master Plan for Downtown Aurora has brought a renewed excitement to development in the downtown. Some projects, of larger scope and scale, still need an infusion of financial incentives above what the Finish Line Grant can provide, wholly or in part, and will still require separate deve...
Click here for full text