Terre Haute council approves 15-year PILOT for 120-unit Wabash Place affordable complex

The Terre Haute City Council approved Resolution 20 20 25 on July 23, 2025, authorizing a 15-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) agreement for Wabash Place Apartments, a proposed 120-unit affordable housing development on about five acres near Margaret and South First Street.

Marissa, a project representative, told the council the development will include one-, two- and three-bedroom units for households earning up to 60% of the area median income, and that rents will be capped at about 30% of a tenant's income. "We are locked in to keeping this property affordable for a minimum of 40 total years," Marissa said, describing the project's commitments tied to Low-Income Housing Tax Credit financing.

The nut of the council’s action is a 15-year PILOT that would begin with the 2027 assessment and increase by 3% annually. According to the presentation, the PILOT serves as the local contribution required in the competitive scoring process used by the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority to award tax credits and other construction financing. The developer said failure to meet the financing and scoring commitments to IHCDA could require returning funding.

Developers and staff described a financing structure common to tax-credit developments: the project received an award through IHCDA’s competitive process, and the local PILOT replaces conventional property tax payments during the 15-year term with set payments into an affordable housing fund. The presenter said the affordability requirement tied to tax-credit financing requires a minimum 15 years of ownership and a longer extended-use commitment; if the owner sells after 15 years, the buyer would remain bound by a restrictive covenant on the deed for the remaining 25 years.

Council discussion touched on several implementation details. Councilperson Boland raised concerns about the accuracy of the subcontractor list provided by the general contractor after contacting local firms; the project representative said some PlanHub listings showed views but not formal bids. Boland also identified a scrivener’s error in the draft resolution that listed one parcel address as "South Fifteenth Street," which staff corrected as South First Street. Council staff and the presenter agreed language that read "may only make available" should read "will only make available" to reflect the project's income limits.

Councilperson DeBond moved to approve Resolution 20 20 25; Councilperson Hinton seconded. The motion passed (6–1). The city clerk and staff noted a prior public-comment period and that the item had been discussed at a previous meeting.

The resolution authorizes the city to enter the PILOT agreement for the project commonly referred to as Wabash Place Apartments and to accept the related terms required by the project's IHCDA financing. The council also asked staff to correct clerical errors in the resolution language and confirm the subcontractor/bidder documentation provided by the general contractor.

The council was reminded of a committee meeting on the coming Monday and the next regular council meeting on Aug. 7 at 6 p.m.

(Reporting note: Quotations and attributions are taken from the July 23, 2025 special meeting transcript. The transcript included a partially unclear phrase about the amount awarded in the IHCDA process—"$150 Southwest Region"—that could not be unambiguously parsed and so is not stated as a dollar figure here.)