City set to decide property tax rebate request for $75 million apartment project

It is a $75 million waiting game.

The leader of a Chicago development group wasn't saying Monday whether plans for a $75 million, five-story apartment/retail building near the Kansas University campus are at risk if the company doesn't receive a requested 95 percent tax rebate from local governments.

Lawrence city commissioners on Tuesday will be the first of three local governments to consider the property tax rebate, but it is uncertain whether the rebate has the votes to win approval.

"It is a project that would be competing with other landlords in the area, and that gives me a problem with the subsidy request," said City Commissioner Bob Schumm.

The city's Public Incentives Review Committee last month was split on the request for a 95 percent tax abatement. The group deadlocked 4-4 on the issue. Mayor Mike Amyx, as a member of the PIRC, voted against the 95 percent request, but showed support for an 85 percent abatement. Commissioner Jeremy Farmer voted for the 95 percent request.

Jim Heffernan, a principal with the development group HERE LLC, said the company was "hopeful" that commissioners would agree to the tax rebate. At last month's PIRC meeting, he said a lesser tax rebate such as the 85 percent proposal could put the Lawrence project in jeopardy.

"These apartments will have no equal as it relates to amenities and convenience in Lawrence," Heffernan said.

The project is slated to be built at 1101 and 1115 Indiana St., which includes what is currently the Berkeley Flats apartment complex and a single-family home of a longtime resident who previously had rejected several offers to sell her home. Plans call for the five-story building to be constructed into the hillside that is just across the street from KU's Memorial Stadium and just north of the Kansas Union parking garage.

The building would have a mix of 239 two-bedroom and four-bedroom apartments and about 13,000 square feet of retail space. The project also would include an innovative 577-space parking garage that uses an automated system that moves cars via a track and lift system without the aid of a driver.

The project is expected to have upscale finishes and amenities. Heffernan previously has said many of the apartments will rent for about $1,200 for a one-bedroom unit or about $2,800 a month for a four-bedroom unit.

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City set to decide property tax rebate request for $75 million apartment project