Committee recommends $82K tax break for Borders building project in Lawrence but votes against $830K tax rebate

A city committee voted Wednesday in favor of one tax break for a project to redevelop the long-vacant Borders bookstore in downtown Lawrence, but against a much larger tax incentive that First Management Inc. had requested. First Management plans to remodel the building at 700 New Hampshire St. into corporate headquarters. The company seeks Industrial Revenue Bonds for a 100% sales tax exemption on construction materials for the building, and a 15-year, 90% Neighborhood Revitalization Area (NRA) rebate. The Public Incentives Review Committee voted 4-1 Wednesday to recommend approval of the IRB. According to agenda materials, that amounts to a value of about $82,000. Committee members, who voted on the IRB and the Neighborhood Revitalization Area (NRA) rebate separately, voted against recommending the NRA rebate on a 3-2 vote. That was valued at about $830,000, according to reports in the meeting agenda.
Source: The Lawrence Times