Nashville Council Files Another Bill Targeting the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency

Nashville Metro At-large Councilman Bob Mendes is taking additional steps to try to rein in the city’s Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency. Last week Mendes had four Tax Increment Financing-related bills up for discussion, according to the Nashville Business Journal. The newest proposed bill would require Metro hire an independent accountant to validate the financial assumptions built into any proposed new MDHA redevelopment district, the website reported. Other bills Mendes backs are already on their second and third readings. As reported, the MDHA has vast powers and gives real estate developers millions of dollars in incentives to build in ritzy areas of town. Many of those details aren’t public record. This process, Tax Increment Financing, is supposed to help blighted areas — but not necessarily a project such as the one at Fifth and Broadway in tourist-heavy downtown Nashville. According to the Nashville Business Journal, one of Mendes’ bills tries to make the incentives process more transparent. That bill, if passed, would accomplish that through a seven-member committee. The other two would divert a portion of money otherwise earmarked for MDHA to Metro Nashville Public Schools. Council members must go through three readings before the bills are actually law, in…

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Controversial Nashville Agency Might Get A Leash Put Around its Neck

housing

A Nashville Metro Council member wants to rein in the city’s Metro Development Housing Authority. As reported, the MDHA has vast powers and gives real estate developers millions of dollars in incentives to build in ritzy areas of town. Many of those details aren’t public record. This process, Tax Increment Financing, is supposed to help blighted areas — but not, in theory, a project such as the one at Fifth and Broadway in tourist-heavy downtown Nashville. Metro Council member Bob Mendes has three bills up for consideration currently making their way through the council. According to the Nashville Business Journal, one bill tries to make the incentives process more transparent. That bill, if passed, would accomplish that through a seven-member committee. “The other two would divert a portion of money otherwise earmarked for MDHA to Metro Nashville Public Schools,” the website reported. The latter two bills passed their first reading Tuesday on a voice vote. Council members are scheduled to hear them again on Sept.18, said Metro spokeswoman Raven Misch. “They will have to go through three readings before it is actually law,” Misch told The Tennessee Star, adding this is how bills are passed through Metro charter policy. MDHA,…

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Developers Defend $25 Million Incentives They’re Getting for Fifth and Broadway in Nashville

Fifth and Broadway project

Tax Increment Financing benefits are normally meant to incentivize developers to build new projects in blighted areas of town and, if possible, spruce them up. But developers who want the same benefits for a new project at tourist heavy Fifth and Broadway in Nashville, across from Bridgestone Arena, say TIF is too sweet a deal to pass up. As reported, the developers OliverMcMillan and Spectrum I Emery want $25 million in TIF benefits. They defended this plan in an emailed statement Wednesday to The Tennessee Star. “A Metro commitment for $25 million in tax increment financing has been a component of the convention center site redevelopment project since the public-private partnership agreement was approved by Metro Council in 2015,” they said in the email. “Low bond market interest rates and the ability to lock in a fixed rate for the full term make a TIF bond the best business option. Since market interest rates are at low levels, the amount of interest MDHA pays on the bonds is minimized. Since the bonds are secured by the project’s property tax payments there is no risk to any Metro Nashville Agency.” The development, called Fifth + Broadway, will have 230,000 square feet…

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Metro Nashville Board of Ethical Conduct to Consider Ethics Complaint Filed Against MDHA’s Jimmy Granbery Over Transit Plan Support Today

UPDATE: 1:00 pm Jimmy Granbery responded to The Tennessee Star’s inquiry about the ethics complaint on Wednesday afternoon. “The complaint had no merit and was dismissed today 5-0 this morning,” Granbery said in an email.   10:20 am This morning at 10:30 am, the Board of Ethical Conduct of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County will review an ethics complaint filed against Jimmy Granbery over allegations of conflict of interest in his role as Vice Chair for Development of the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency, and his role as owner of property within the 19 proposed Transit Oriented Development Districts of the Transit Plan that voters rejected on May 1, and his financial support for that plan. The complaint, Anne Barnett v. Jimmy Granbery, was received by the Board of Ethical Conduct on April 25, and alleges the following: Mr. Granberry is the Vice Chair for Development of MDHA, which is the exclusive master developer of the 19 proposed Transit Oriented Development Districts of the Transit Plan. Mr. Granbery has abused his position entrusted to him for his and his company’s own profit by failing to disclose his financial interest and ownership of properties in and around the…

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