Explanation
Background: City Council passed Ordinance 1732-2019 authorizing the City to enter into an Economic Development Agreement, dated September 27, 2019 (“EDA”), with The Gravity Project 2 LLC (the “Developer”) and Columbus Housing Partnership, Inc. (“Homeport”). In furtherance of the commitments in the EDA, City Council passed Ordinance 0072-2020 (the “TIF Ordinance”) to establish a new tax increment financing (“TIF”)” area under Section 5709.40(B) of the Ohio Revised Code (the “Gravity Phase II TIF”). The Gravity Phase II TIF includes Homeport’s parcel(s) at the northwest corner of McDowell St. and W. State St. as well as the parcels originally controlled by the Developer between W. Broad St. on the north, W. State St. on the south, McDowell St. on the west, and the CSX railroad on the east, but it did not include Tax Parcel ID number 010-042942 or Tax Parcel ID number 010-301918, as they existed at the time of the passage of the TIF Ordinance (the “Additional Parcels”), since they were not controlled by the Developer. An affiliate of the Developer acquired the Additional Parcels on November 10, 2021.
In order for the Gravity Phase II TIF to be administered more efficiently due to the combination of these two new parcels into other parcels within the Gravity Phase II TIF, the City has agreed to add the Additional Parcels to the Gravity Phase II TIF. The improvements to the Additional Parcels will have the same one-hundred percent exemption and 30-year term as the current parcels under the TIF Ordinance. The applicable portion of the annual service payments from the Additional Parcels will be distributed directly to the Columbus City Schools. The remaining non-school portion of those service payments will be paid to the City for deposit into the Gravity Phase II TIF Fund to be used to finance certain public infrastructure improvements in accordance with the Cooperative Agreement dated May 1, 2021 by and among the City, the Columbus-Franklin County Financ...
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