Proposed luxury apartments in Butchertown may get some help from the city.
Louisville Metro Council’s Labor and Economic Development Committee signed off on a plan last week that would give a tax break for a new building between Main and Clay streets housing 263 luxury apartments.
Jeff Mosely, the deputy chief of Louisville Forward, told council members the plan amounts to a local tax abatement of as much as $4.4 million dollars over 20 years or about $220,000 a year.
He said the city is looking at multiple urban housing projects right now. Mosely said city officials want to bring more people downtown for economic reasons, but they don’t want to cut into other services to do so. During the meeting, Mosely said this particular financial model is a good way to manage both those interests.
“In other communities, as we have been developing and there has been this urban revitalization, there have been efforts to use some source of revenue to make sure that the affordable housing stock remains available," Mosely said.
Metro Council President David Tandy said this deal allows the city to benefit from increasding property values from that plot of land while also giving an incentive to developers.
“Because of the way the property evaluation is for land in the downtown area it, at times, becomes difficult for a private development to be able to develop as the market currently exists,” he said.
Tandy said that’s why the city is trying to give developers a financial incentive to develop in areas such as Butchertown. He wants the city to have a diversity of housing, which includes luxury apartments aimed at bringing in young professionals to the area.
The project will cost about $50 million and rent is planned to run an average of $1,500 a month.
The council will have to give final approval to this tax increment financing deal.