West Quadrant TIF District provides infrastructure financing for Kendall Yards 2nd Addition project.

On Monday, June 4th the City Council unanimously approved a purchase and sale agreement with North Gorge Residential Partners LLC, the ownership entity of Kendall Yards, pledging to use up to $594,087 of tax increment revenues from the Kendall Yards sub area of the West Quadrant Tax Increment Finance District to finance public street, sanitary sewer and water improvements needed to help keep the Kendall Yards 2nd Addition project moving forward.

The Kendall Yards TIF sub-area covers the entire 78 acre Kendall Yards development being built on the bluff overlooking the Spokane River and is part of the larger West Quadrant TIF District formed in 2007 for much of the West Central Neighborhood, part of the Riverside Neighborhood adjacent to the River, and the North Monroe St. business corridor within the West Central and Emerson-Garfield Neighborhoods. Overall the Kendall Yards development is expected to include 1,088 residences and 720,000 square feet of commercial space in an urban mixed use setting. The Kendall Yards TIF sub-area operates independently from the rest of the district and must rely on the tax increment revenue within its own sub area boundaries for infrastructure financing. There is a separate project list and tax increment revenue financing for the neighborhood projects outside the subarea.

Tax Increment Financing (TIF) is a funding mechanism used by local governments to finance public infrastructure and help incentivize economic development and redevelopment of blighted neighborhoods. It represents a commitment by local governments to a vision for economic development. Government is willing to pledge future benefits to incentivize a certain type of development to occur that otherwise would not have occurred as fast or at all. For more on tax increment financing click here.