Jasper County prepares for Legacy Plaza development

Supervisors approved a letter of engagement from Jasper County’s bond council, Ahlers & Cooney, on Dec. 13 regarding the Legacy Plaza project.

JEDCO Executive Director Jeff Davidson presented the letter to the board of supervisors, which makes preparations for a new urban renewal plan and development agreement. Because of all the moving parts, Davidson said the board will see more of him in the future as the project progresses

“Similar to any TIF-related project … we need to have the urban renewal area in place, and this will be a carving out of a new urban renewal area from an existing one,” Davidson said. “Brandon (Talsma) and I have met with the city regarding that and we seem to have everyone on the same sheet of music.”

Christensen Development is the lead developer of the $30 million renovation of the historic Maytag Buildings 1, 2 and 16 of Legacy Plaza. The buildings will be transformed into 90-unit market-rate apartments and a 30-room, high-end hotel with a bar/restaurant in the space formerly occupied by the Peanut Pub.

Funding for the project is bolstered by the establishment of a reinvestment district in Newton, which will provide $14 million in state funds over 20 years.

Although the reinvestment district does not give the project a grant of that amount, it does provide a funding mechanism by enabling a revenue stream to be created from new sales and hotel/motel taxes that can provide over time up to $14 million for investment in the project, Davidson said at a past board meeting.

In the future there will be two joint agreements brought before supervisors. One will be between the county and the city, laying out what the relationship is going to be and guarantees the city will live up to its commitments. The other financing agreement is between the county and Christensen Development.

“And then there will be the actual TIF agreement,” Davidson said. “…For the first 10 years after the project is completed, there will be TIF rebates. So no upfront money by the county or anything like that. There’ll be rebates that go to the hotel developer to basically finance the fit out of the hotel portion of the project.”

From years 11 to 20, the TIF will be there in case there is a shortfall with the reinvestment district funds.