The board of the Monroe County Industrial Development Agency
unanimously approved a tax deal this afternoon for the developer of the Sibley
building downtown. The COMIDA agreement sets a baseline tax payment that
increases as the building is redeveloped and leased.
Boston-based Winn Development closed on the Sibley building
on East Main Street last month. A limited partnership formed by Winn will
re-develop the historic 12-story building into a mixed-use urban center with
retail on the first and second floors, residential on the upper floors, and
office space.
The building will also house a police substation, which is
expected to open in July 2013.
Monroe Community College occupies two floors in the Sibley
building, and recently signed a new five-year lease. The college’s Board of
Trustees has voted, however, to move the Damon Campus to Kodak property on
State Street after that lease expires. College officials, including President
Anne Kress, still seem set on the move — despite opposition by Mayor Tom
Richards — so at today’s COMIDA meeting, it was interesting to hear Winn Vice
President Joseph Eddy refer to MCC’s “ongoing site-selection process.”
Winn paid $5 million for the Sibley building and will
immediately begin $3 million in neglected repairs and maintenance, said Carlos
Carballada, the city’s commissioner of neighborhood and business development at
today’s meeting. That includes, Eddy said, security upgrades.
Security is one of the reasons MCC officials cite in favor
of the move to Kodak.
This article appears in Dec 12-18, 2012.
“The COMIDA agreement sets a baseline tax payment that increases as the building is redeveloped and leased.”
OK. So what were the dollar amounts involved? What is the baseline tax payments versus what some company without the necessary political connections would have had to pay?