Aurora moves to close funding gap for downtown arts center
A downturn in the tax credit market after November's election caused Aurora to amend a development agreement for a proposed $38 million downtown arts center, but the $3 million funding gap won't put the project in danger, city officials said.
The city council this week approved an amended agreement among the city, Aurora Civic Center Authority and the developer, Community Builders. Only 10th Ward Alderman Lynne Johnson voted against it.
The initial agreement was approved in December.
Rick Guzman, manager of Aurora's Neighborhood Redevelopment Division, said the scope of the Aurora Arts Centre project, which is slated to bring a school for the performing arts, rehearsal space, apartments and a restaurant to the former Waubonsee Community College building at Stolp Avenue and Galena Boulevard, has not changed.
"It's the same project using most of the same funds, but with a bit of a different pathway to get to it," Guzman said.
"The main thing that happened is that one of the primary funding sources for this project - tax credits - changed following the November election," he said. "With just the speculation about corporate tax reform, the value of the tax credits went down."
That scenario created a funding gap of about $3 million. To fill it, a number of things came into play, Guzman said.
One boost came when the DuPage County Board voted to forgive a $1.3 million loan on one of the buildings involved: the Coulter Court Building on Downer Place and Broadway.
"In the interest of having this project move on, they actually forgave that loan," Guzman said. "The benefit is that it allows that building to be donated to the project and the donation of a building into an affordable housing project qualifies it for a state resource called donation tax credits. So that's a new funding source."
Guzman said all the partners also agreed to contribute "a bit more" to close the gap.
"So you have a highly cooperative effort where everyone said, 'We still believe in this project, we want to see it move forward and we're willing to step up and make sure that it can happen,'" Guzman said.
The state also extended the RiverEdge Redevelopment Zone until the end of 2017, Guzman said, which created the ability to get more state historical credits for the project.
"The developer will be going on an accelerated construction schedule because they will get tax credits on any part of the project that's completed by the end of 2017," he said.
Aldermen also voted to look into establishing a new tax increment financing district within the current downtown TIF District. The firm of Kane, McKenna and Associates, Inc. will study that possibility.