Bryan offering incentives to builders of middle-class homes

Bryan is now offering incentives to homebuilders who are willing to boost the city's middle-class housing market.

The city council unanimously voted last week to create a Single Family Housing Home Builders Incentive program. The city agreed to waive building, water and sewer tap fees for builders in the program in return for construction of single-family homes of between 2,200- and 3,000-square feet with heating and cooling.

Frank Clark, business liaison and special projects director for Bryan, said the program was developed because the city now has more lots available and is trying to entice builders to come to Bryan. He said the city is looking to build out middle-class homes on the east and west sides of the city, such as Austin's Colony, Austin's Estates, Greenbriar and Dominion Oaks.

The building permit fees range from $650 to $750, and there is no limit on the number of homes for which the city will waive the fees. Water and sewer tap fees, which are roughly $750, will be waived for up to 30 homes in the program. Clark said the lost revenue from the building permit and water and sewer tap fees will be made up after the property value is added to the tax rolls.

To ensure timely construction, a certificate of occupancy must be obtained for homes in the program within seven months after the homebuilder gets the building permit, or the permit fees will have to be retroactively paid.

The city will also pay for up to seven homes to be entered in the 2014 spring or fall Bryan-College Station Home Builder's Association "Parade of Homes."

Bryan issued a yearly average of 27 building permits in this target market during the last five years. Clark said Bryan compared itself to College Station, which has issued a yearly average of 95 building permits. In 2013, College Station issued 134 permits and has already issued 47 so far in 2014 in the 2,200- to 3,000-square feet range.

The program is slated to last one year, though Clark said it could be extended if it's successful.

Clark said Bryan patterned its program after Bay City's, a city of about 18,000. D.C. Dunham, executive director of the Bay City Community Development Corp., said the city was struggling to attract builders from Houston to construct new property for spec homes, or homes with no prospective buyer. New companies are opening up in the Bay City community and she wanted to make sure the city had the housing inventory to capture the prospective buyers.

Jimmy Pitman of Pitman Custom Homes L.P. was the first applicant for Bryan's program. He said the waived fees make building in Bryan more attractive to builders who are struggling with barrier to entry, especially for homes that don't have prospective buyers attached to them.

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Bryan offering incentives to builders of middle-class homes