SPRINGFIELD – For the first time since implementing the Vertical Housing Tax Zone on Oct. 12, 2004, the City received and unanimously approved an application for a Vertical Housing Tax Credit.
Top left: A photo of 448 Main St. from last October. Top right: A photo of the building taken this month. This building will feature 12 upstairs units and three units on the first floor. Two of the leases for the first floor have not been signed yet, but Oakshire Brewing will be taking the largest space on the first floor.
Masaka Properties, along with Campfire Collaborative Architecture & Design and Ryan Thomas Construction, is developing 448 Main St. into a three-story, mixed-use commercial and residential space in downtown Springfield.
The first floor of the building has three spaces available for lease. Oakshire Brewing signed a 10 year lease for the largest space on the first floor, but Masaka Properties co-owner Bob Miller said the other two spaces – one of which is an ADA accessible unit – do not yet have leases signed by future occupants.
The upstairs, residential floors have 12 units available, all of which have a 100 square ft. balcony facing downtown Springfield and skylights that provide “tremendous” lighting. One lease has already been signed, but the other units are still up for grabs.
“It’s been a long, hard battle with interest rates going crazy, the cost of goods going crazy,” Miller said. “It wasn’t a great time to build a building, but we’re glad we did it.”
Construction on the Masaka Properties building is expected to wrap up Aug. 15.
Before the vote, council president Kori Rodley asked Jeff Paschall, development and public works community development director, how much staff time was used to process this application.
Paschall estimated it was probably about a week’s worth of work, but he was quick to ensure the council understood that “that’s probably not a very fair way of” evaluating the work done since this is the first vertical housing tax credit application the City has ever received.
“It’s a pretty straightforward process that basically allows a residential component of a mixed-use space a tax break – and in today’s financial climate, you need all the breaks you can get,” said David Loveall, Masaka Properties co-owner and county commissioner. “Even during the construction of this process, the loan standards have changed to make completing it even more difficult financially.”
