A project promising to transform downtown Cape Coral is pushing ahead, aided by a tax incentive package approved last week.

Village Square development excites Cape Coral

Project could revitalize downtown

By Brian Liberatore •  March 21, 2010 source newspress

 

A project promising to transform downtown Cape Coral is pushing ahead, aided by a tax incentive package approved last week.

The Cape Coral Community Redevelopment Agency agreed to a special tax rebate program to assist the Village Square project on Southeast 47th Terrace in the heart of downtown Cape Coral.

"It's huge," said CRA Executive Director John Jacobsen. "This is one of the largest buildings that has happened in the CRA in years."

Village Square will include construction of a building for Fifth-Third bank, a parking lot and public space including an outdoor fountain.

The project, which is split into five phases totalling about $150 million, will have a mix of commercial and residential property along with a multiple story parking garage.

It was one of a handful of growth projects proposed for Cape Coral at the height of the building boom. It is now one of few left standing.

Officials said they hope to break ground this year on the first phase of the project, which should take about 18 months to complete.

The agreement states the CRA will refund a portion of the project's property tax dollars that otherwise would have gone to the CRA.

The amount of the rebate - which is only applied after the six-story building is constructed - will depend on the value of the property and the tax rates.

But rough estimates from last year show an annual $165,000 rebate. That number could grow as the project progresses.

The approval is one of the final steps in a process that has taken more than four years.

The city needs to approve the project plans and issue a building permit, and that could take months.

"(The tax incentive) was a big approval," said Annette Barbaccio, a planning consultant for Island Development, the company behind the project.

Barbaccio said it fills a need in Cape Coral for higher-caliber office space.

"We really think this is going to be a transformational project that is going to generate new growth around it," Barbaccio said.