Thrive presentation highlights county projects and $9.5M housing fund as housing shortage tightens

Deb Reinbold, president of Thrive Economic Development, told the Watertown City Council on June 17 that Jefferson County has attracted several large industrial projects and is using a locally managed financing pool to encourage multifamily housing development.

She said the county’s Live Local Development Fund launched in 2023 with $3 million and is “now up to 9 and a half million dollars” as it works with an investor to reach $10 million; the fund offers below-market loans and incentives intended to lower developers’ risk during stabilization periods.

The fund is designed to support multifamily construction to relieve an exceptionally tight rental market in the county. Reinbold told the council that multifamily vacancy is “less than a 1%” and single-family inventory is about “1.7 months,” and said Thrive is prioritizing multifamily because of the scale of unit need.

Reinbold also summarized recent and prospective private investments she said are drawing attention to Jefferson County: a $563,000,000 project identified in her slides as “Kikoman,” a roughly $500,000,000 investment at a former Valero facility identified as “Clon Bio,” and a $300,000,000 project she called “Onego Bio.” She said those projects and others are supporting the argument that the county needs more housing and higher-wage jobs.

On financing, Reinbold described the Live Local Development Fund structure: participants can receive incentives tied to per-unit supports (as she described, “we can incent up to $25,000 per multifamily unit at a below market rate”), with the goal of making deals more attractive to investors and lenders and helping projects through the early, higher-risk stabilization period.

Reinbold said Thrive is also helping locally with smaller programs and technical support: the Watertown Rehab Fund (an RDA-supported program seeded with $100,000 in ARPA funds) has approved nine homeowner projects and two rental projects, and Thrive has been hosting education sessions and outreach to attract developers and workforce partners.

Council members asked about utilities and site readiness for high-energy users; Reinbold said some large bio- and industrial projects require about 20 megawatts of power and that some parts of the county — she said — lack that capacity. She described ongoing work with an outside lobbying firm to seek utility investments but cautioned that upgrades can take years and utilities typically act when a named project is on the table.

Reinbold closed by inviting closer, item-specific guidance from the council about the types of housing and locations Watertown wants to prioritize as Thrive recruits developers.

The presentation was informational; council members did not take formal action on the items presented at the June 17 meeting.