FARGO – A 110-unit low-income apartment structure slated to be built on the site of the former Lashkowitz skyscraper will get payment in lieu of taxes and tax relief on assets after the city’s Economic Development Incentives Committee decided its aid with a 5-0 vote. Tuesday, January 23.
The $33 million Lashkowitz Riverfront allocation, located at 101 S. Second St. , will offer 1, 2 and 3-bedroom apartments in a five-story building. Construction is expected to begin this spring and the allotment will be ready for occupancy. until May 2025, said Chris Brungardt, executive director of the Fargo Housing and Redevelopment Authority.
Financing for the building is broken into two parts related to the two different values of federal tax credits sold to help finance the project. According to the applications for the PILOTs, that means 83 apartment units of the project will receive a tax exemption of about $280,000 a year, while the remaining units will receive a tax exemption worth nearly $88,500 per year. Without the 17 years of the PILOT breaks, Brungardt said the project would not be financially viable.
The whole of the building will be supported with vouchers that limit what a tenant pays to 30% of their monthly income, he said.
“We want to serve very low-income (residents) in the Fargo community,” Brungardt said.
City Commissioner Dave Piepkorn, who chairs the committee, said the allocation is a win on many levels, given the significant need for housing in the metro area.
“This is within our wheelhouse,” Piepkorn said.
The 22-story Lashkowitz skyscraper was demolished last September in a controlled demolition and debris was removed from the site.
The committee also voted 5-0 in favor of a 100% asset tax exemption for five years for a primary expansion of Packet Digital. The company designs and manufactures batteries for drones and submersibles.
The tax exemption, worth about $163,000 per year, would help the company invest about $11 million to create a facility at 1330 and 1358 39th St. N. to ramp up its manufacturing, said Matt Steele, Packet Digital’s director of operations. Another $14 million would be invested in production machinery, he told the committee.
Steele said the U. S. government and major brands need their battery wishes to be met through domestic companies. Currently, about 95% of drone batteries come from China, he said.
Another company, Anvil Design and Manufacturing, also unanimously won an asset tax exemption to expand its operations to a building at 2222 7th Ave. The company will use 9,500 square feet of construction, said Guy Nelson, the company’s president.
The 100 percent five-year asset tax exemption would be worth about $7,900 per year, according to the company’s application.