AJ Bytnar is making the rounds to tell communities along the South Shore Line about money available for transit-oriented development.
Bytnar, economic development director at the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority, wants communities with transit development districts surrounding train stations to know about a new $10 million credit enhancement fund aimed at kickstarting projects in those districts.
Since the districts were authorized by the Indiana General Assembly in 2017, a lot has happened, including tax policy changes and construction costs, he noted in a TDD steering committee meeting Thursday.
Like tax-increment financing districts, which collect the increase in property taxes over a baseline set when the districts were created, transit development districts also collect the increase in state income taxes.
But since the districts are so new, they might not have the credit history bondholders are looking for, Bytnar said. The $10 million credit enhancement fund is meant to reassure lenders that their money will be paid back as financing packages are stitched together for individual projects.
Banks and other lenders want to see local skin in the game, so this new fund should help make sure there’s adequate return on investment, he said.
Bytnar anticipates negotiating on projects individually to customize a deal for each community and each project to help them move forward.
“This is to be a catalyst for these things, not to be a permanent condition,” he said.
Bytnar and his team are reaching out to transit communities to review these options and see what stumbling blocks there might be, along with what kind of interest they’re seeing, Bytnar said.
“We anticipate a lot of interest in this,” consultant Aaron Kowalski of MKSK said.
“It seems like there is significant development interest,” he said. “The market is starting to pay more attention to the region,” as evidenced by the Dyer plan.
The Dyer Central Park Commons project is a $243 million deal to create a mixed-use development that includes a grocery, fitness club, Hilton hotel, shops, restaurants, 363 townhomes and 199 units of senior housing.
The RDA is providing funds to support the town’s $23 million commitment to the project, the first in the region to use TDD financing.
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Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.