The activation means the foundation’s economic development arm – Nucleus – will begin collecting revenues from the district in 2012.
The downtown TIF district is a 210-acre area that includes the old Haymarket site, the hospital district and housing developments. Nucleus will get a portion of the new payroll and state taxes businesses in the area pay. The amount Nucleus gets in 2012 could be an estimated $1.3 million, Ramsey said. The revenue from the TIF will continue for 30 years and will grow with the increased economic development and wages paid in the TIF district.
To activate the TIF revenue generation, Nucleus had to document more than $150 million in capital expenditures inside the TIF district since 2007. There actually has been more than $200 million in investment in that area, said Nucleus CEO Vickie Yates Brown.
The money will be used to help finance UofL projects in the area, perhaps starting in the next 12 to 18 months, Ramsey said. Projects could include a parking structure or a second Nucleus-owned building that would provide “wet lab” space for UofL faculty researchers on the old Haymarket block, now known as Nucleus Innovation Park – Market Street. The first building on that property is under construction.
“This is a huge step forward for us” Ramsey said. “This will have a profound impact on job growth in this community and prove that tax increment financing can be used to spur that growth.”
