Talks under way for Mason's Ash Street

Multiple Fund Sources Needed
By CHRISTIE BLECK
cbleck@lsj.com
February 12, 2011
From Ingham County Community News

MASON - Discussions are under way for the possible development of vacant downtown property.

At the City Council's Feb. 7 meeting, City Administrator Marty Colburn reported on the properties located at 124 and 140 E. Ash St., sites that councilwoman Barb Tornholm said make a big difference in the downtown landscape.

Colburn said if the property isn't developed, it will deteriorate beyond salvaging.

"It's a building that, if we don't try to save it, will fall down eventually," he said.

Colburn said the Ingham County Land Bank took ownership of the Ash Street property, which had been foreclosed, two years ago, and talk about how to develop it has been progressing.

Colburn said the Land Bank is entertaining an offer from a developer, whose name he did not disclose, in which the first floor would be used for commercial space and the second and third floors would be turned into loft apartments. Parking would be in the rear of the building.

Doug Klein is executive director of the Mason Area Chamber of Commerce, located adjacent to the vacant property.

"There are the four store fronts immediately west of the chamber office," Klein said in an e-mail. "Most people in town think of them as where Hungry Howie's and the Shopping Guide were. At least they were both there six years ago or so."

The two sites immediately west of the chamber, he noted, are part of a three-story building where the Shopping Guide was located. The other two storefronts just west of that are two stories and are joined on the second floor.

Those used to be the Ball-Dunn Furniture Store years ago, Klein said.

Colburn said that to finance the project, a variety of funding sources is needed, including money from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC).

Other sources, he said, including historic and Michigan tax incentives, Community Block Development grant funds and HOME Investment Partnership Program money.

The city, according to Colburn, also was asked to create tax-incremental financing through a Brownfield District because of the building's obsolete nature.

In this scenario, the city would need to work with the Ingham County Land Bank and the Ingham County EDC to create a Brownfield Tax-Increment Financing Plan.

(Through tax-increment financing, a portion of the increase in the tax base resulting from economic growth and infrastructure development is dedicated within that development area.)

The project won't be cheap.

"The reality is that this is going to cost $1.5 million," Colburn said.

A total of $400,000 of that would come from MSHDA while the Mason Downtown Development Authority would provide $50,000, he said.

However, Colburn stressed that it will take working with "numerous different avenues" to bring the project together.

"As you can see, it's a bit of a juggling act," Colburn told the council.

Klein said the chamber is in favor of the project.

"We are looking forward to helping a developer fill that physical niche with tenants of two types: sustainable local businesses and quality loft apartments -- both of which already populate the rest of the downtown," he said.