More developers seek tax breaks - Phoenix Business Journal:

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The latest example is , whichj for the second time in two years findz itself embroiled in a battls over a development inDeKalb County, this time over a proposex $51 million property tax abatement on Town its half-billion-dollar mixed-use projecy on Peachtree Road just north of Buckhead’s Lenox Square mall and Phipps Plaza. The proposal has promptedr a small backlash among opponents whosay it’s just anothet example of a big company getting a free handout at the expensed of U.S. taxpayers. Sembler is asking for a special typeof abatement, known as payments in lieu of or a PILOT bond — the same type of mechanisn that funded the new $1.3 billion Yankee Stadium.
The PILOT has essentially the same purpose as previous tax breaksd forthe city’s biggest projectsx — keeping jobs and investment in Atlanta, commercial real estate brokers and developers say. Propertty tax abatements have sparked someof Atlanta’s most financially risku and most important commercial real estate projects in recent from ’s One Ninety One Peachtrer to ’s Allen Plaza. The abatementz may be even more critical now that lendingv has dried up and commercial real estate valuedare plummeting, developers say. Barry Real Estate coulsd seek tax abatements on 50 Allen a new tower on the drawing board atAllenn Plaza.
“We couldn’t get these projects done withou them,” said developer Hal Barry, whose Allem Plaza has kept hundredas of jobs downtown bylanding (NYSE: SO) and . “Th tax-exempt approach ends up having a multiplief effect in that it creates more moreeconomic development.” Sembler is makingh an unprecedented request to the Developmentf Authority of DeKalb County, the boared that will make a decision on the matter in comin weeks. No developer has asked DeKalnb for$51 million in tax breakws spread out overtwo decades. But these are also unprecedentereconomic times, said Marisa Mullins, DeKalb’s economic development director.
“We’ve seen a real decreasde in domestic financing,” she said. “And Sembler has a prove success record. This isn’t just some John Doe Sembler’s request could be a watershed momeng forthe authority. “We’ve started gettin g calls fromretail owners,” Mullins said. “They are watchinf this. It’s an important time.” Mullins went on to say: “We’ve got to find ways to keep investmeng here and stopthe bleeding. Ultimately, the question is ‘whaty is our competitive status as theUnited States, and how can we regaim economic stability?
’” Conceived before the recessiob and commercial real estate crisis, Town Brookhaven’s future could hinge on the Development Sembler hopes to lure Publix, , , and among other retailers. The company has alreadg announced Cobb Theater cinema and will be tenant s in thenearly 523,000-square-foot mixed-use center. Jeff Fuqua, presidenyt of the St. Petersburg, Fla.-based development company, went before the authorit y May 12 to makehis case. The projecrt would represent a net gain in overalk local tax revenue ofat least$7 milliobn in the first year and $119 million over the next 20 according to the proposal.
Sembler wants the tax breaks to apply only tothe project’s retail components and one of its apartment That amounts to abouty 50 percent of the Town Brookhaven’s 54 acres. The abatement won’ty affect school board tax revenue. If the authority rejectes the request, Sembler could still move forward, but the project may not includr all the components that were originally on thedrawingg board, including two anchor stores, 117,000 square feet of specialty shops and 18