The Morning Report
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Just a reminder: The NTC Foundation will today ask the City Council to turn over up to $800,000 to make sure the second phase of construction on the Point Loma arts, culture and nonprofit district can happen.
If you want to go tell the council what you think, you can go today to the meeting at City Hall (202 C Street downtown, on the 12th floor) at 2 p.m., though discussion on this item won’t likely happen right at that start time.
The council is being asked to turn over the refund from the county for part of the property tax bills and penalties the city covered for the foundation earlier this year.
Otherwise, an unexpected shortfall in the funds needed to cover construction costs threatens to “unravel and jeopardize” the project to renovate the next eight buildings in the district. The buildings are part of the former Naval Training Center (hence the acronym NTC); the foundation is working to rehabilitate and rent out 26 buildings for arts, culture and nonprofit tenants.
The county has already refunded $688,302 to the city for the foundation’s property tax bills and penalties incurred. The foundation expects another $41,537 chunk to be refunded for a total of $729,839, said foundation executive director Alan Ziter.
Increased construction costs added about $995,000 to the total project. The foundation will try to cover the rest of the gap by cutting some interior improvements and going after more tax credit funding for the projects, Ziter said.
I’m Kelly Bennett, the arts editor for VOSD. You can reach me directly at kelly.bennett@voiceofsandiego.org or 619.325.0531.
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