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CRA advisory board recommends TIF rebate for Tolles Garden affordable-homeownership project
Summary
The Fort Myers CRA advisory board recommended that the CRA Board approve a 95% tax-increment rebate up to $5,662,906 for the Tolles Garden 141-unit affordable for-sale condominium project, contingent on a $19,500,000 Lee County CDBG-DR award; the advisory board’s voice vote was unanimous.
The Fort Myers Community Redevelopment Agency advisory board on a unanimous voice vote recommended that the CRA Board approve a tax-increment financing (TIF) rebate of up to $5,662,906 for the Tolles Garden project, a planned 141-unit affordable for-sale condominium development.
Jennifer Fisher, attorney for Tolles Garden Lender Asset SPV LLC, told the advisory board the request is for a 95% increment rebate and is contingent on a Lee County award of $19,500,000 in Hurricane Ian CDBG-DR funds. "The request before you tonight is for a recommendation for the CRA board to approve tax increment financing in the amount of $5,662,906 provided in the form of a 95% income rebate," Fisher said during the presentation.
Developer representative Dr. Stylianos Vayanos said the lender-turned-developer intends to deliver the design and community commitments previously promised for the site and emphasized the project will be income-qualified for buyers. "We wanna do this. We wanna be part of the community and we wanna see this come to fruition," Vayanos told the board.
Staff and the developer described the TIF rebate as part of a larger capital stack that depends on the county’s CDBG-DR award and HUD’s environmental review and authorization. Fisher outlined the statutory and plan criteria staff used in their eligibility analysis and referenced plan pages and statute language supporting affordable housing expenditures in the redevelopment area.
Vice Chair Holloway moved to send a recommendation to the CRA Board; Mr. Coleman seconded. The advisory board took a voice vote; Chair Eady declared the motion carried unanimously.
The board’s recommendation does not itself authorize funds; it forwards the incentive request to the CRA Board and leaves final funding and agreement terms subject to the county and HUD processes described by staff and the developers.
