October 13, 1999

Building 50 seeks state tax-free status

'It's one more tool we can use to save Building 50,' Commons director Rachel Brady says

BILL O'BRIEN
By Record-Eagle staff writer
      TRAVERSE CITY - A plan to seek state tax-free status for the Grand Traverse Commons property was significantly scaled back by the City Commission before its approval Monday night.
      The commission decided to seek a state Renaissance Zone designation for a 5-acre envelope only around historic Building 50, omitting the rest of the campus and its 143 acres of development possible land, which had been proposed by Grand Traverse Commons officials.
      City Manager Richard Lewis said commissioners decided to include only the old central administration building of the former state psychiatric hospital grounds after some officials questioned whether designating the entire Commons property as a Renaissance Zone would be too great an advantage over other private businesses in the city.
      As a Renaissance Zone, the property would be free of most state and local taxes for up to 15 years. State lawmakers must designate a property as a Renaissance Zone.
      City officials also limited the scope of the zone proposal because they wanted time to determine whether several recent amendments to the Commons' district plan will attract new development proposals, Lewis said. The amendments allow dozens of commercial and mixed-use developments at the property.
      "The commission felt that we need to give (the district plan changes) some time to work to see how that plays with everything else that's going on up there," Lewis said.
      The 5 acres is the smallest area that a municipality can propose for a Renaissance Zone. The Commons property is one of 10 sites included in an application through Grand Traverse County that is being jointly submitted to the state with Alpena and Presque Isle counties.
      Commons officials said they were disappointed the city decided not to include all of the Commons property in the application. The entire campus includes some 450 acres, although much of that is public park land that will remain open space. About 143 acres of the total site could be developed.
      Still, officials are hopeful that a tax-free designation for Building 50 could spur some additional redevelopment proposals for the centerpiece structure of the Commons, which has a history of failed redevelopment proposals.
      "It's one more tool we can use to save Building 50," Commons executive director Rachel Brady said. "We would've like to have all the mixed-use area that's been designated included in the application, but we're still positive about the future of the site."
      Brady said representatives of the Commons Board will be part of an Oct. 28 presentation to state officials on the three-county application scheduled in Alpena.
      The state will announce the new Renaissance Zones in December. Earlier this month legislation passed to create at least nine more tax-free districts by the end of the year.