Aurora is set to create a new tax increment financing district as part of incentives for a 246-unit apartment complex on North Broadway.
Aldermen already have approved steps to create the TIF district, and the City Council held a public hearing on its creation last Tuesday night.
City officials said the district could be created as soon as 14 days.
Under a tax increment financing district, the property tax amount collected is essentially frozen at the time the district is created. As property values increase with development, the additional tax dollars are placed into a city fund to help finance public improvements in the district.
What is being called the East River Bend TIF District is part of $6.7 million in incentives the city pledged to DAC Developments, LLC, which has plans approved for a 246-unit, $70 million apartment complex between the east bank of the Fox River and Broadway, and between Jake’s Bagels and the Aurora Township building.
DAC Developments is committing about $11 million of its own equity into the project, and will secure about a $50 million loan.
According to the development agreement between the city and DAC, the city would give DAC Developments a $963,000 forgivable loan up front and another about $2 million this year.
City officials are estimating the new TIF district could create a budget, during the 23 years it exists, of $34.5 million. The assessed value in the district currently is $84,735; the DAC development is estimated to increase that value by about $35 million.
To create the East River Bend TIF District, the city actually has to take the property out of two other TIF districts. Members of the City Council’s Finance Committee recently recommended doing that.
DAC Developments has been known for suburban apartment complexes with many amenities – things such as tenant coffeehouses, a bike shop, swimming pools and same-floor parking – in places like Wheeling and Des Plaines.
One of the things the building will have in Aurora that is not in other developments is a swimming pool courtyard that would be open, creating a view from North Broadway of the Fox River and its shoreline.
Along the riverfront, the developers would create open space that would include some kind of park, along with bringing the Fox Valley Park District bike path through it.
The development will have primarily studio and one-bedroom apartments, although some 40 units will be two- and three-bedroom apartments. The building will be five stories, with private balconies on about 45% of the units.
There will be 310 parking spaces in an inside parking garage that will be planned so people will park on the same level as their apartment unit.
