The Harold’s Square project, approved recently by the Tompkins County IDA, will contribute to the vibrancy of The Commons and benefit the downtown area in many ways. Located next to Home Dairy Alley, the project will renovate an historic building and replace several vacant, single story buildings with a mix of commercial, retail and residential uses.Adding 109 units of much needed rental housing will give more people an option to work, live, and recreate downtown. Once completed, the project will pay an estimated $2.1 million in new property taxes over 10 years. The $43 million project will include significant energy saving measures that will help meet county-wide carbon emissions reduction goals.
The Tompkins County IDA is administered by TCAD and is just one tool that TCAD uses to support a healthy economy. The IDA delivers incentives to mixed-use projects downtown at the request of the City of Ithaca through the Community Investment Incentive Tax Abatement Program (CIITAP). The goals of the program are to encourage development in the City that increases the tax base, encourages rehabilitation and redevelopment of underutilized sites, and helps create a vibrant downtown center. Downtown projects assisted by the Tompkins County IDA paid $1.3 million in new property taxes in 2016, represented about one third of the IDA’s projects.
