Memphis City Council members approved Tuesday, Jan. 10, the use of $14.2 million in tax increment financing for the Uptown area.

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The 12-0 council vote comes the day after the Shelby County Commission approved the joint city-county funding resolution that sends the city and county property tax revenue collected in the Uptown TIF district to four neighborhood projects.

1. $2.2 million to supplement the Collins Chapel Connectional Hospital for temporary housing and other assistance to homeless families with medical issues. The Community Redevelopment Agency funds would join city and county funding along with money from the CME church. The completion date is 2023.
2. $6 million in gap financing for Edgeview at Legends, a 99-unit affordable housing development for senior citizens in Legends Park, the mixed-income development built where the Dixie Homes public housing development once stood. Edgeview is a public-private partnership between the Memphis Housing Authority and Pennrose LLC. Completion date is 2024.
3. $3 million as the first year of an eight-year commitment to a home repair program for legacy homeowners in Uptown. CRA has already completed 75 home rehab projects for those homeowners since 2018.
4. $3 million for a home ownership program with Habitat for Humanity and Promise Development toward a goal of new affordable home construction, including 40 new homes per year over the next eight years.

The Uptown TIF administered by CRA has been in place for 21 years with nine more left on the 30-year term.

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CRA president Andrew Murray estimated the TIF currently generates $8.5 million a year in city and county property tax revenue primarily from the Harbor Town and Mud Island areas included in the district.

Such districts usually take several years to build the amount of revenue that goes back into the area to promote affordable housing, beyond the basic property taxes that go to the city and county.

Council member Michalyn Easter-Thomas, whose district includes Uptown, included an amendment in the resolution that specifies the Uptown TIF is the only one of several in existence across the city that has the greenlight to start spending.

“I didn’t want this to be a preface for any other TIF to be able to do the same thing,” Easter-Thomas said. “This is just for Uptown to get these things done. It doesn’t set a precedent for any other TIF.”

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Murray said the CRA hopes to borrow on future tax revenue generated in the area to meet the commitments.

“We’re trying to bring this TIF in for a landing … and get the projects done but get the timing right for the construction,” Murray said.

In planning and development items, the council approved a special-use permit for a dormitory by Send Relief Inc./North American Mission Board at 3016 Old Austin Peay Highway in Raleigh.

The council also delayed a vote on a special-use permit for the proposed “Dream” hotel project – a 19-story, 181-room hotel to be built atop the existing Royal Furniture Building, on the southeast corner of South Main Street and Gayoso Avenue.

The Dream project is scheduled for a vote at the Jan. 24 council session.

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