Statesboro City Council on Tuesday approved another Tax Allocation District funding request, this time for a housing rehabilitation project south of East Main Street rather than a commercial development.
This was one of several action items approved by the council during the 9 a.m. April 7 regular meeting. Others are listed at the end of this story.
JBP Southern LLC, owned by David L. Pearce, was the applicant for the $78,300 TAD grant approved for the project identified as Lafayette, Turner & Thomas. Pearce’s established company, Pearce Building Systems, is the general contractor, and he also owns the property, which is bounded by Lafayette, Turner, Thomas and Gordon Streets, through the JBP Southern limited liability company.
When he bought the property last year, Pearce paid $225,000 for the land value alone, he said. The Bulloch County Board of Tax Assessors database shows there were a dozen 90- to 95-year-old, small wood-frame houses on the 0.79-acre parcel when he acquired it. The county appraisers listed 10 of the houses in “poor” condition and valued those from $20 to $4,500 each, and two in “fair” condition valued at $16,300 each. The houses were described as having fireplaces but no other permanent heating.
Pearce tore down the two houses he found in worst condition, one of which had eight bullet holes through it, he said. He has set about refurbishing the other 10 with new metal roofs, insulation, siding; heating, ventilation and air conditioning units; new fixtures, cabinets, windows where needed, floor coverings, paint, landscaping and mailboxes, according to his TAD funding application.
The estimated project cost, or value upon completion, is $522,000, which also includes the property purchase, he said in an April 3 phone interview.
The result will be 10 renewed one-bedroom home units ranging from 700 to 1,000 square feet each with an average of about 900 square feet. For now, the homes will be offered to people age 62 and older, Pearce told the Statesboro Herald.
“The houses were built nearly a hundred years ago, early 1930s, and our first thoughts were to tear everything down,” he said, “and then we started working with the city and talking with different ones and we’ve opted to refurbish them and try to make a nice place for the elderly, for seniors in our community.”
For senior citizens
The application notes a “large rear courtyard” as a planned amenity. He said it could be a shared area for the senior residents.
“We get a lot of people calling,” Pearce said. “There’s a need for senior citizens housing, little communities, and I think that’s just a really good spot for it.”
In the TAD application, he predicted a rent of $800 a month, for income from the homes totaling $96,000 annually, assuming full occupancy.
For 15% of costs
His request for $78,300 in TAD funding was for installation of what the city identifies as “private infrastructure,” and $78,300 is simply 15% of the $522,000.
Under “proposed uses of TAD funds” the application listed $65,800 for HVAC, $38,000 for siding and $24,000 for roofing, which obviously adds up to more than the requested funding amount.
The South Main Street or “Downtown” TAD Advisory Committee had voted 4-0 on March 16 to recommended approval of the $78,300 funding award. City Council, which can fund a TAD project only if it has a positive recommendation from the committee, also approved by a 4-0 vote, Tuesday with one member absent.
“They’ve given those units lots of TLC, and they’re small units, but when you think about our Unified Development Code … these would fit into that category of cottage courts, and it’s a way of reusing those properties,” City Manager Charles Penny said before the vote.
The South Main Tax Allocation District was established in December 2014 for an area that extends to other streets on both sides of the South Main Street, or “Blue Mile,” downtown corridor. On the map, one finger-like projection of the district extends southeastward along Savannah Avenue and up Gordon Street to just this area, south of East Main.
As with other TADs, tax revenue from property values that existed within the district at the time of its creation has continued to go into the city’s general fund budget. But tax revenues resulting from new development and increased values after that date are held in a special TAD fund for redevelopment projects in the district.
Other TAD project
Most TAD-funded projects have been for commercial or mixed-use projects. City Council in early March approved a grant of $272,821 in South Main TAD funds for private infrastructure improvements in the Hop Atomica Statesboro brewery, restaurant and micro-distillery planned for an existing building at 6 Walnut St., an almost $2.3 million total project.
But as Pearce alluded when he spoke of “working with the city,” creating more affordable housing has also been a stated goal of Statesboro city officials, and the city has a housing rehabilitation program of its own.
More council actions
In other items from Tuesday’s agenda, all by 4-0 votes, City Council approved …
- Contract Amendment #2 in the amount of $13,931.75 on Task Order #7 with Goodwyn Mills Cawood Inc. for additional professional engineering services on the Little Lotts Tributary Stream Restoration, to be funded by the EPD Section 319(h) grant.
- Negotiation of a contract for design services with DPR Architecture. This contract, yet to be assigned a cost, would entail design of major renovations and repairs to City Hall and will be funded from 2025 SPLOST funds.
- A contract awarded to Suncoast Restoration in the amount of $299,737.75 as the lowest responsive bid for a project to refurbish and renovate brick surfaces and windows of the Averitt Center for the Arts. This project will be funded from 2025 SPLOST funds.
- A bid and contract with Underground Excavating Inc. for $331,804.08 for construction of the Fire Station 3 Access Road, funded by T-SPLOST funds.
- Purchase of a 2026 Chevrolet 3500 Crew Cab from Alan Jay Fleet Sales at a price of $69,790.82 for the Stormwater Division, to be funded by stormwater operating income.
- A contract awarded to Tyson Utilities in the amount of $115,351.50 for the installation of approximately 2,000 feet of six-inch water main with appurtenant equipment (hydrants, valves, services) to serve additional hangers at the Statesboro/Bulloch County Airport. This project will be paid by Bulloch County with Airport T-SPLOST funds.