Utica IDA holds public hearing on plan to convert vacant industrial building into 235 lofts

The City of Utica Industrial Development Agency held a public hearing on a proposal from RED Adirondacks LLC to substantially renovate a vacant industrial building at 2214 Whitesboro Street in Utica into housing and mixed-use space.

Under the proposal, RED Adirondacks LLC would convert a approximately 100,000‑square‑foot structure on a roughly 4.7‑acre parcel into about 235 residential loft units, roughly 5,000 square feet of commercial space, roughly 25,000 square feet of indoor parking, a fitness center, and common areas and landscaping. The transcript indicates the project is intended to “promote employment opportunities by filling a demand for quality high density housing in the city of Utica.”

The developer would own the facility and use a lease/leaseback arrangement with the agency: the company would lease the facility to the industrial development agency, which would lease it back to the company; the company would then sublease residential units to tenants and commercial space to retail or commercial tenants. The agency’s financial assistance as presented would include exemptions from sales and use taxes, exemptions from mortgage recording taxes, and an abatement of real property taxes for a period of 10 years. The transcript states the proposed PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) agreement would be assignable to a residential sublessee upon purchase of a unit.

Agency staff told attendees that the proposed tax exemptions represent a deviation from the agency’s Uniform Tax Exemption Policy; the deviation and the details of the proposed assistance would be described more fully in a final authorizing resolution the agency would adopt prior to closing. No final vote or resolution was recorded in the transcript of the hearing. The public hearing record shows there were no public comments before the hearing was closed.

Next steps identified in the hearing text include the agency preparing a final authorizing resolution describing the specific deviations and the terms of any PILOT agreement prior to closing. The transcript does not specify a timetable for that resolution, the total project cost, financing sources other than the tax exemptions, or any construction schedule.