But as they looked at the work to be done on Villa West, which is in much better shape than White Lakes but still faces significant deferred maintenance, Ferd Niemann, director of development and acquisitions, said his company will consider an application for tax incentives for part of the redevelopment.
“When a building’s in ill repair like that, it has a ton of deferred maintenance, which is not nearly as easily fixable on purely the free market without some sort of subsidy,” he said. “Then the community has to assist with it. If the community is willing to do that, it’s a win-win. It’s a public-private partnership. But it creates additional burden on everybody.”
Help for property owners in the form of tax increment financing, or TIFs, and Community Improvements Districts, or CIDs, is sometimes the next step for deteriorated properties, Niemann said. “Those sorts of things help bridge the gap,” he said. “TIF and CID, that’s a four-letter word in a lot of cities. They’re very unpopular. There’s been a lot of abuse. I’m from Kansas City, and it’s as bad here as anywhere. I think Chicago and Kansas City are probably the two most tax-abusive cities around in the country.”
But there are good TIFs, too, Niemann said, acknowledging that every developer has a “sales pitch” on why his or hers is the good one.
“So the city leaders, from management to elected, they obviously need to be prudent and evaluate on behalf of the citizenry,” he said.
(Read more: News – The Topeka Capital-Journal)