Transformational Mixed-use Development Bill Nears Passage

Last week, Senate Bill 39 – the Transformational Mixed-use Development Tax Credit Bill – was favorably voted out of the Ohio House Economic and Workforce Development Committee by a vote of 10-1. Yesterday, that Bill passed on the House floor by a vote of 82-1.  This extremely important Bill for the commercial real estate industry is now poised to move to the Ohio Senate for concurrence with the House amendments and then to the Governor’s desk for signature.
This Bill would incentivize mixed-use developments with $50,000,000 or more in total project costs (and 15 stories or 350,000 square feet) for developments in or around cities with a population of 100,000 or more, or smaller scale but still transformational mixed-use developments that are located more than 10 miles outside of a major city.
Our firm drafted portions of Senate Bill 39. Unlike any other commercial real estate economic development law – it includes a first of its kind, built-in return on investment calculation and methodology to ensure that additional state and local taxes generated by the development will exceed the amount of the tax credits awarded to the developer.
If this Bill becomes law, it will be help stimulate the economy and the commercial real estate business, in particular, by promoting additional commercial real estate development activity of significance – that is, by definition, transformative.