Council approves first reading of developer-backed TIF bond for 251-unit 'Reserve at Millbrook' project

On first reading the Tippecanoe County Council approved an ordinance authorizing issuance of developer-backed economic development revenue bonds to support a proposed mixed-use project called the Reserve at Millbrook.

Outside counsel Cam Starnes told the council the planned bonds are nonrecourse to the county and would be supported by a pledge of tax-increment financing (TIF) revenues captured in a new allocation area north of State Road 52. Starnes said the ordinance sets a maximum parameter of $11,000,000 based on municipal-adviser projections and described a taxpayer agreement that would require the developer to cover any semiannual shortfall in debt service.

Grant Deaton of the Ridge Group described phase 1 as a 251-unit, $62,500,000 Class A multifamily community with 412 parking spaces and roughly 11.65 acres total for phases 1 and 2. Deaton said the developer expects to raise about $18.7 million in equity and obtain approximately $43.8 million in construction financing; he projected the county could receive about $2.74 million of its share of taxes over the 25-year bond life and roughly $195,000 annually from resident income-tax contributions once the project is fully assessed. Councilors asked about parking ratios, acreage and zoning; the first reading passed by roll call 7–0.