30 Aug KB’s Duluth History: It includes TADs
Location: Gwinnett County
Client: City of Duluth
Timeframe: 2010 to 2021
KB Advisory Group has a history in Duluth: It includes TADs.
The firm has provided various ongoing implementation services to the City since completing the Downtown Duluth Redevelopment Plan in 2013.
KB’s City of Duluth TAD History
After voters authorized the formation of TADs in Duluth, the City hired Ken Bleakly, Founder of KB Advisory Group, to assist in establishing its first TAD. In 2010, the City proposed creating the Buford Highway Corridor Tax Allocation District (TAD) to facilitate the redevelopment of aging commercial properties along the corridor. Ken assisted with that effort too. Here is a live link to a 2013 presentation entitled “Redevelopment Plan Amendment and Tax Allocation District for the Downtown Duluth/Buford Highway Corridor.”
Development in the Duluth TAD
KB continued work with Duluth, drafting development agreements to provide funding to three new apartment complexes within the TAD, totaling more than 800 units. Projects include the Residential Group’s highly successful 380-unit “District at Duluth,” a 180-unit active adult apartment community under construction by Greystar Developers. Also, a second 258-apartment project was developed by the Residential Group.
KB’s Most Recent Duluth TAD Work
In early 2021, KB prepared a detailed forecast of TAD proceeds from the build-out of previously permitted projects. Then the firm updated the City’s Urban Redevelopment Plan to make the Urban Redevelopment Area (URA) contiguous with the TAD. That work supported the City’s recent decision to issue $27 million in bonds for planned public and private projects within the URA. The tax allocation increments already created within the TAD and additional increments from new projects will repay those bonds.
Key Accomplishments:
- KB identified TAD boundaries for downtown redevelopment
- KB wrote the TAD Redevelopment Plan
- KB worked with the City of Duluth to obtain adoption of the plan
- KB assisted the City of Duluth in finding a developer to execute TAD projects
- KB wrote the development agreements and completed and oversaw their successful implementation.
Non-TAD assignments include:
- KB assisted in preparing a disposition strategy and RFP to sell 20 acres of City-owned land adjacent to City Hall in 2015.
- After that, KB helped evaluate proposals and selected a preferred developer.
- The RFP resulted in a $4.5 million sale, fully recovering the City’s site assembly costs, and a site plan for more than 100 SF detached and townhome units.
- By 2021, the developer, Lennar, had completed its last project phase and was nearing sell-out.
- Next, KB helped Duluth recruit a developer for its former City Hall site and adjacent properties.
- The result was the multi-tenant, restaurant-centric development known as Parson’s Alley.
- KB drafted the development agreement and master lease between the City and Fabric Developers.
To learn more about other KB TAD work, see one of the following:
Planning and TAD Advisory Services for the City of Douglasville, Georgia