Green Bay authority approves Fire Station Flats development, lines up multiple funding sources

The Green Bay Redevelopment Authority approved a development agreement with General Capital to build a mixed-use project on South Broadway that will include a new fire station and 85 affordable housing units, and approved related funding commitments and contracts to advance cleanup, design and construction.

The vote moves forward a project the authority has been conceptualizing since it acquired the property in 2018 and that authority staff say combines public-safety and affordable-housing goals. The city and developer will use a mix of tools — tax-credit equity, TIF assistance, federal pass-through dollars and city-administered HOME funds — to assemble the project's financing.

Authority staff said the housing portion (not including the fire station) is estimated to cost about $32 million and that the city assessor values the housing component at about $7 million, a figure staff said reflects the lower revenue from affordable rents. To close an identified funding gap, the project team is relying on: 4% noncompetitive tax credits; tax-increment financing (TIF) assistance (including an…