Franklin leaders are hoping up to three areas of the city can get a special designation that will allow federal tax incentives to be used to spur investment and job creation.
The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act created a new federal program meant to help revitalize specific parts of low-income communities across the country, according to a news release from the state.
The neighborhoods picked for the project will be called opportunity zones, and those zones will be able to offer tax incentives for development for the next 10 years.
Franklin applied for the program for three specific areas because Mayor Steve Barnett wanted the city to take advantage of any possibility to spur development in the community.
Opportunity Zones provide certain investors with federal capital gains tax advantages if they develop a project in the zone, the state’s news release said.
The top priority for the city is an area that includes part of the U.S. 31 corridor, neighborhoods, the Franklin Business Park and the semi-truck bypass that carries trucks from U.S. 31 to Interstate 65.
Franklin is spending millions of dollars on a new road that opens up more property for development, the shell building is under construction and four roundabouts are being built on the truck route, making the opportunity zone designation vital because of the development potential in the area, the city’s application said.
The other priorities for opportunity zones for Franklin include distressed residential areas of downtown, parts of Franklin College and parts of Compass Park, both of which are undergoing renovation and new construction projects.
This area also includes the Garment Factory event center, and the city’s has spent millions investing in the facility and in downtown streets and public parking. This zone also includes properties downtown that have been damaged by flooding repeatedly. Incentives for development in the area could help fill the second story of downtown buildings with remodeled housing and overcome the costs and obstacles to renovating historic properties, the application said.
The third area is the historic homes and businesses along Jefferson Street and parts of U.S. 31, including the county fairgrounds and Otterbein Franklin SeniorLife Community, formerly the Franklin United Methodist Community.
The neighborhoods that are picked have to have a poverty rate of at least 20 percent. Gov. Eric Holcomb and a group of advisors from across the state will nominate Census tracts from communities in Indiana that are interested in the program. The governor and advisors will consider factors such as existing economic development programs and local efforts, demographics, the likelihood of attracting short- and long-term investment, what industries are growing in the community and the local applications.
The communities nominated by the governor this spring will be submitted to the U.S. Department of Treasury for consideration.
