Developer seeks $5.66 million TIF rebate for 141 affordable for‑sale homes; approval made contingent on $19.5M CDBG‑DR award

The Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) advisory board on Tuesday recommended that the CRA Board of Commissioners approve a tax‑increment financing rebate for the Tolles Garden project — a planned 141‑unit affordable for‑sale condominium development — in an amount not to exceed $5,662,906, contingent on Lee County awarding the project $19,500,000 in Hurricane Ian Community Development Block Grant–Disaster Recovery (CDBG‑DR) funds.

The recommendation follows presentations by the applicant’s attorney, developer and financial consultants detailing the project location at the southwest corner of Veronica Shoemaker Boulevard and Addison Avenue in the Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard CRA district, the proposed unit mix and the capital stack. Jennifer Fisher, attorney for Tolles Garden Lender Asset SPV LLC, said the developer seeks a 95% increment rebate from the CRA to fill a financing gap if the county grant is approved.

The developer, Stylianos Vallianos of Fuse Group Investment Companies, said his company acquired the site via a deed in lieu of foreclosure and is committed to completing the project as originally planned. “We wanted to really bring it to fruition,” Vallianos said, adding the team plans a mixed‑income for‑sale community with 73 units targeted at up to 80% of area median income…