The Downtown Billings Partnership (DBP) Board of Directors is presenting this recommendation to the City Council for allocating up to $100,000 in tax increment finance funds (TIF) from the Downtown Urban Renewal District to 704 Properties, LLC, for its Wise Wonders project. The property is located at 3024 2nd Ave North and funds would be used for parking system public access, signage, metal facade, roof and bathroom construction work on the existing building (See Wise Wonders Application Attachment Page 4 Highlighted items). If approved, the TIF funds will reimburse the applicant for the described costs for the redevelopment of the property. The applicant plans to begin construction this spring and have much of the remodeling work completed by summer. The DBP Board of Directors voted to support funding of this application at its meeting on January 24, 2020, under its authority per the Memorandum of Understanding between the City of Billings, and the DBP approved by the City Council in May 2019.

The City Council is the final authority in disbursing TIF funding. The City Council may:

• Approve the recommendation from the DBP Board for the expenditure of these TIF funds, or;
• Disapprove the recommendation from the DBP Board for the expenditure of these TIF funds.

The request is for up to $100,000 to be reimbursed to 704 Properties, LLC, for the identified work (See TIF Application Attachment). The estimated total project cost is $1,015,602, making the private to public investment ratio for this project about 10:1.  The funds are payable pending satisfactory submission of all paid invoices showing the completion of expenditures related to this project. If approved, reimbursement funds are available for reimbursement in FY21 at best and FY22 in the worst-case scenario based on completion of improvements. This project is to start in the spring of 2020 and is likely to be completed in FY21 (after June 30, 2020) under a new project budget cycle. The current cash balance for the DBP is about $2,450,000.

The DBP Board of Directors recommends that the City Council approve a reimbursement up to $100,000 from the Downtown Urban Renewal tax increment finance district funds to 704 Properties, LLC, for its Wise Wonders redevelopment project at 3024 2nd Ave North.