Canonsburg offers 5-year tax cut for senior apartments
CANONSBURG – Canonsburg officials Monday agreed to cut borough property taxes in half for an Ohio developer planning an apartment building offering independent living for seniors at the site of the former First Street Elementary.
Council agreed to grant the abatement to MV Affordable Housing, a subsidiary of the developer Miller-Valentine Group, for five years from 2018 to 2022. The Dayton-based company is seeking tax credits from the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Authority to fund the project, which involves demolishing the former school building at 803 First St. and replacing it with a three-story structure containing 46 one- and two-bedroom units for renters 55 and up.
“Those economic incentives are very crucial to allowing our tax credit application to be competitive,” Peter Schwiegeraht of Miller-Valentine told council before members’ 6-0 vote. “We appreciate any concerns you have for that.”
Council’s resolution stipulates the “abatement shall be contingent on MV Affordable Housing, LLC’s completion of all proposed demolition, development, construction and operation of the senior living project.”
Schwiegeraht said the development would offer “high-quality” and affordable senior housing that inclded a fitness center, community room, movie theater and business space.
Washington County Judge Damon Faldoski approved the sale of the former school – which opened in 1924 as First Ward School – to Miller-Valentine for $600,000 on Sept. 20. It was one of three Canon-McMillan schools that closed at the end of last school year and were consolidated in the new Muse Elementary Center.
The school district is still listed as the owner of First Street in county property records.
Schwiegeraht and borough officials at the meeting couldn’t provide an estimate for what the break on the tax bill would cost the borough.
In an email Tuesday, borough code enforcement/zoning officer Troy Lucas wrote officials “don’t have those numbers until the building is completed and assessed.”
Canonsburg officials appeared comfortable with that uncertainty Monday. Council President R.T. Bell and Mayor Dave Rhome stressed the property is currently tax-exempt and therefore generates no revenue.
“We put a building back on the tax rolls,” Rhome said.
Schwiegeraht said in an interview the company’s plans to develop the “high-quality senior housing” are dependent on securing the tax credit financing. If it’s not successful, the company would have to consider whether to try again or terminate the contract, he said.
Schiegeraht called October 2018 a “goal start date” if the company receives financing for the project next year. Construction would take about a year once it begins.