In its test-tube version, Raul Alvarez and Danny Thomas’ Community Preservation and Revitalization Zone plan for East Austin would work like this:

Up to 35% city property tax rebate

Mixed-use projects: at least 7,500 square feet of commercial space

Commercial-only projects: at least 25 jobs for residents of the CP&R zone

Up to 60% city property tax rebate

Mixed-use projects: at least 15,000 square feet of commercial space

Commercial-only projects: at least 50 jobs for residents of the CP&R zone

Up to 80% city property tax rebate

Mixed-use projects: at least 30,000 square feet of commercial space

Commercial-only projects: at least 100 jobs for residents of the CP&R zone

Conditions:

Mixed-use projects: 10% of the project’s residential units must be affordable at 65% of Austin’s median family income.

All projects: Developers contribute the equivalent of 10% of their (prerebate) tax bill to the new Homeowners Assistance Fund.

So, for example:

If The Austin Chronicle, currently located at 40th and I-35, moved to the CP&R Zone, we would be eligible for:

a 35% tax rebate in a commercial-only project, based on the (rough) percentage of our current head count that lives in East Austin; or a 60% tax rebate as the commercial anchor of a mixed-use project, based on our projected space needs.

This article appears in October 15 • 2004.

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