Janesville City Council Approves TIF Expansion to Include Uptown Janesville Mall

The expanded TIF district is proposed to include the mall and its parking lots — but not the site of a former Sears building that is being demolished to make way for the Woodman’s Sports and Convention Center.

This will add nine parcels and 44.3 acres to the current TIF district which currently encompasses 44 acres, making the new total about 88.5 acres.

The proposed expanded TIF district doesn’t include the Milton Lawns Memorial Park on the east side of Milton Avenue.

Jimsi Kuborn, the city’s economic development director, said last month that an expanded TIF district presents an opportunity to promote additional mixed-use development, offer incentives to redevelop properties in the area and to make infrastructure improvements.

She said multi-family housing and hotels will be key focuses and expressed hope that the larger TIF district will see the same level of success as a downtown TIF district that includes the ARISE Town Square. Both the downtown and the Woodman’s Center are great examples of public-private partnerships, she noted.

Kuborn said that over the life of the proposed expanded TIF district, the city expects to invest about $3.9 million and in return anticipates seeing $17.4 million in new property value within its boundaries. The city expects to pay off any TIF borrowing within 17 years, and to close the TIF district three years earlier than the maximum allowable 20 years.

Kuborn said last month that she hopes wrapping the expanded TIF around the mall in conjunction with the construction of the Woodman’s Center will revitalize it.

“We want the mall to be successful and bring it back to what it was before,” she said.

While ultimately voting to move ahead with the plan for a new TIF district, council members shared Monday that they wished the city had different tools at its disposal, beyond TIF.

Council member Heather Miller said with a key aim of the Woodman’s Center to spur positive change in the Milton Avenue area and help draw business to the mall, she doesn’t understand why a TIF is needed.

Miller said this might be setting a precedent she’s not fully comfortable with, that the city will overuse TIF along other stretches in need of redevelopment.

“I don’t think it’s the city’s purpose to save a failing business. Are we opening Pandora’s box or are we trying to save this the mall now, and then what do we do next year?” Miller said. “We’re going to try to save the old Toys R Us and then are we going to try and save Creston Park. That looks like we’re handpicking and we’re trying to save a specific property and being in the business of something we really maybe shouldn’t.”

In response, Kuborn said the TIF district would work in conjunction with the Woodman’s center to bring business to the mall. She said that the mall is a uniquely challenged site that needs more economic development tools.

Kuborn also said there are multiple reasons to create TIF districts to not just fix one business but help better the community overall.

“It is truly working through an opportunity to be a partner in a difficult-to-redevelop site,” Kuborn said.

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