Zoot Properties, LLC has applied for a downtown tax increment financing (TIF) grant to assist with the costs of maintaining, restoring and updating the Hart-Albin Parking Garage.  Zoot made the application to the Downtown Billings Partnership (DBP) for a $1 million grant.  The DBP Board approved and recommends that the City Council award a grant of up to $500,000 as a 1:1 match to private investment.  Downtown TIF expenditures over $50,000 require Council approval.  The primary rationale for the grant is that the downtown needs the parking spaces that the garage supplies and it is less expensive to assist the private company with it's restoration work than to construct a new public parking garage.  Without the restoration work and other updating, the garage structure could deteriorate and eventually have to be abandoned.  The Hart-Albin garage spaces are leased during work days but the garage is open and available for public parking after hours and on weekends.

City Council may approve or disapprove the grant request or may request additional information before acting on the grant request. 

Half of the improvement costs would be reimbursed in FY 2017 and the other half in FY 2018.  The downtown TIF account has a FY 17 budget of $2,141,000 for development incentives and there is enough cash in the account to make the FY 17 payment.  The applicant has already invested about $250,000, which would make it immediately eligible for reimbursement of approximately $125,000.

The Downtown Billings Partnership Board of Directors recommends that the City Council approve a 1:1 matching grant of up to $500,000 to Zoot Properties, LLC for rehabilitating the Hart-Albin Parking Garage.