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Council approves six‑year tax abatement for Cascade Phase 2, staff say project is $50M and will add mixed‑use development on East Bank
Summary
By unanimous vote the council adopted Resolution 2611, approving a six‑year mixed‑use tax abatement for Warf Partners’ Cascade Phase 2—a proposed eight‑story, roughly $50 million project with 22–32 for‑sale residential units and ~30,000 sq ft of commercial space. Staff presented estimated tax‑abatement numbers and said residential abatement would apply only while the developer retains ownership.
The Common Council on April 13 adopted Resolution 2611, designating 312–318 East Koffax Avenue as an economic revitalization area and approving a six‑year tax abatement to support Warf Partners’ proposed Cascade Phase 2.
Eric Lavich, the city’s director of growth and opportunity, presented the request and the staff’s tax‑impact estimates. He described the enclosed Phase 2 concept as an eight‑story, approximately 112,000‑square‑foot mixed‑use building (estimated development cost about $50 million) with an estimated 22–32 for‑sale residential units and about 30,000 square feet of commercial space. Lavich said Phase 1 obligations tied to an earlier abatement had been met and that Phase 2 required a separate abatement to make it financially viable.
Staff presented an estimate of taxes and abatement value under a set of assumptions: projected incremental commercial property tax liability of roughly $312,000 per year (post‑completion) and residential per‑unit liabilities estimated at about $31,700 per unit; modeled across the six‑year abatement term the staff estimate was roughly $2.7 million in abated taxes with net tax receipts during that period on the developed property still material compared with the prior assessed value. Lavich emphasized a conditional element: the residential abatement would apply only while Warf Partners owns the units and would terminate on sale to third parties.
Developer representative Thomas Panzika described Phase 2 as a project intended to attract for‑sale buyers downtown and noted Phase 1 sold out (17 units reported sold). Panzika said construction costs for concrete and glass high‑rise product and market dynamics made the abatement necessary to meet financing thresholds and to compete with lower‑cost peripheral developments.
The public‑hearing portion produced no public speakers. Council members asked clarifying questions about unit counts, parking and parking capacity on site; developer answers said Phase 2 would provide about 41 underground stalls plus existing surface parking and that the combined site might total roughly 125 spaces when surface and subsurface parking are included, though the developer acknowledged East Bank parking demand will remain a neighborhood challenge.
After a committee recommendation and a public hearing with no speakers, the council voted unanimously to adopt Resolution 2611.
The resolution’s terms and the staff estimates establish the abatement parameters; council members and staff noted the abatement is intended to make the project feasible but that the residential abatement would not follow individual units once sold to private owners.
