South Bend city officials say a Carmel developer’s plan to build luxury apartments along the river could transform an underutilized area of the city.
JC Hart Company plans to spend at least $61.5 million to build two four-story buildings containing 291 apartments and a parking garage on the south side of the Crow campus on Jefferson Boulevard. The accounting firm Crowe LLP will remain in the building closest to Jefferson.
The agreement, approved Thursday by the Redevelopment Commission, calls for the city to issue $14.8 million in bonds toward construction. Interest would bring the debt to about $30 million over 20 years.
The city uses incentives that are not tax breaks, which essentially mean developers pay no property taxes. Technically, they will pay taxes, but that payment will go toward repaying the bond debt each year. In other words, there is no need to directly repay the public debt.
City Community Investment Executive Director Caleb Bauer says this is not a gift, but an incentive to build a parking garage.
JC Hart officials told WNDU they plan to charge about $2,000 a month in rent for the 900-square-foot unit. He said the upcoming Amazon data center and GM/Samsung battery factory attracted the company’s attention.
