The Bloomington City Council will consider a property tax abatement for the owner of the old Mid-City Hotel in downtown Bloomington if the owner redevelops the property into apartments by June 2017. (Joe Ragusa/WJBC)
By Joe Ragusa
BLOOMINGTON – The Bloomington City Council will consider dropping some of the property taxes for the old Mid-City Hotel if a developer renovates the property into apartments.
The property at 312 and 314 N. Main St. has been vacant since the 1960’s and that’s why Assistant City Manager Steve Rasmussen and other city staff members are recommending the approval of the property tax abatement Monday night.
“You’re betting that it will be improved and you’ll get more tax (revenue), but you’re giving away future tax (revenue) that you haven’t gotten anyway,” Rasmussen said. “It requires some faith that it will develop and it will produce more taxes.”
The developer, Mid-City Properties LLC, has to spend at least $847,000 renovating the property and has to complete the project by June 2017 in order to receive the abatement.
The proposed abatement period is five years and Mid-City Properties would pay more taxes each year until the abatement period ends. Under the proposal, the city would only collect 89 percent of the property tax levy in the first year.
Other taxing bodies like District 87, the McLean County Board and Heartland Community College would also have to approve the property tax abatement.
The Bloomington City Council meeting agenda for Monday night can be found here.
Joe Ragusa can be reached at [email protected].
