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Douglas County OKs 10-year, 80% tax rebate to help Alarm.com convert 714 Vermont into offices
Summary
The Board approved county participation in an 80% neighborhood revitalization rebate for Alarm.com’s adaptive reuse of 714 Vermont Street in Lawrence; the city approved matching participation and the applicant projects roughly 30 new jobs and a $6 million renovation budget.
The Douglas County Board voted to participate in a 10‑year, 80% Neighborhood Revitalization Area (NRA) rebate to support Alarm.com’s planned adaptive reuse of 714 Vermont Street in downtown Lawrence.
City staff presented the request and said the building, constructed around 1948 and identified in the county’s modern architect historic resource list, would be converted into about 13,800 square feet of Class A office space. Susie Carson, director of economic development for the City of Lawrence, told commissioners that the city approved participation at 80% for 10 years after an independent third‑party financial analysis found the project would not meet market return thresholds without incentives.
Brendan Allen, senior director of software at Alarm.com, said the company currently employs roughly 37–38 people in Lawrence and anticipates adding about 30 jobs with the expansion. Alarm.com plans to buy and rehabilitate the former University Ford sales building, investing what an attorney for the applicant described as about $6 million to create an estimated $4 million post‑renovation asset.
Carson and staff explained the NRA is performance‑based: only incremental property tax generated by post‑improvement assessed value is eligible for rebate and payments are made after the new taxable value appears. Using the packet assumptions, city staff estimated the county’s portion of rebate payments at approximately $54,000 over 10 years and developer rebate receipts of roughly $215,000, while the county would continue to receive 100% of current taxes on the property.
During questioning, commissioners pressed on structural work (replacement of trusses for adaptive reuse), the company’s commitment to remain in Lawrence, and the valuation assumptions (comparables and a 3% growth projection). The applicant and city staff acknowledged the assumptions could vary and that the rebate amount would change accordingly.
Public comment included a resident urging scrutiny of whether large tax incentives favor taxpayers and a representative of the county EDC urging approval as a way to retain and grow high‑paying jobs and downtown activity. The board discussed the typical range of NRA requests (noting some past requests near 95%/15 years) and cited the negotiated 80%/10‑year structure as more favorable to local taxing jurisdictions.
A motion to approve county participation in the 10‑year, 80% NRA for Alarm.com at 714 Vermont, and to authorize the county administrator to execute a cooperative agreement with the City of Lawrence, Douglas County and USD 497, was moved, seconded and passed by unanimous voice vote.
Next steps: the commission authorized execution of the cooperative agreement and the rebate will be paid only if and once the incremental taxable value is created by completed improvements.
