Charles City designated a ‘Thriving Community’ by state program

Designation opens up tax incentives for housing development in the city

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

Charles City has officially been designated as a Thriving Community by the Iowa Finance Authority and Iowa Economic Development Authority.

The Iowa Thriving Communities program is a newly established grant program from the state designed to encourage housing development.

Cities recognized by the program receive additional scoring points when applying for Federal Housing Tax Credits and Workforce Housing Tax Credits. The city of Charles City has been working alongside the Charles City Area Development Corp. (CCADC) to apply for one of the limited number of communities to be granted that designation.

“We are really excited about this Thriving Iowa Community nomination,” said Emily Garden, co-chair of the CCADC’s housing board, who has been working alongside CCADC Executive Director Tim Fox and City Administrator Steve Diers on the city’s application to the program.

Garden, Fox and Diers were in Des Moines on Friday, Aug. 11, to make their pitch to the Iowa Finance Authority for why Charles City should be recognized as a “thriving community.”

On Monday, it was announced that Charles City would be one of the 11 Iowa cities granted that designation.

“It’s pretty awesome,” said Diers.

“It solidifies our argument that we are a competitive community,” said Fox.

Demonstrating the city’s advancement in improvements to health care, child care, and industry in the community, along with the collective commitment to improving the city’s supply of housing stock, the trio made their case as to why Charles City should be one of the chosen communities.

“We made sure to highlight a variety of great things we are doing in Charles City,” said Garden. “There are a lot of people doing really good things here.”

While the application itself was a joint effort between the city of Charles City and CCADC, many area groups and businesses, from NIACC to NIACOG, contributed to the application process through sharing resources, technical help, or letters of support.

“We’ve had a lot of people step up and help us out,” said Fox. “It was a community-wide collaborative effort.”

One of the greatest arguments in the case for Charles City as a thriving community stemmed from the number of major expansions currently underway. With $143 million in capital investments across five projects happening in the city, the activity in Charles City demonstrates the confidence that it is a community that will reward investment.

“The community showed well,” said Fox.

The focus of the presentation centered on the city and CCADC’s plans to see a large multi-family apartment complex built in the Southwest Development Park to alleviate some of the city’s housing needs.

“We’re hoping to get a four-building multi-story apartment complex,” said Garden.

For small rural communities, where cost of development is high and economies of scale are low, it is difficult to attract developers willing to invest in new construction.

While the CCADC has already committed to give $572,400 in land toward an apartment complex project and the city has committed to $375,000 in infrastructure expenses, the “thriving communities” designation will sweeten the deal further by qualifying the project for up to $1 million in Workforce Housing Tax Credits.

“Being able to offer them a package like this is going to be a game changer,” said Garden, referring to potential developers.

In addition, the designation means Charles City also qualifies for an additional $1 million in affordable housing credits for a second project down the line.

Now that the city has made it through the application process, the next step is to find a developer willing to take on the project.

In early September, Garden, Fox, and Diers will attend a housing conference and reception, where they will be able to meet with developers to pitch their plans and find a developer that matches their vision. More than 600 representatives of housing developers and related businesses from Iowa and across the country have already signed up for the HousingIowa Conference in Cedar Rapids Sept. 6-7.

In the meantime, the trio is happy to see that the work they’ve put into promoting Charles City is yielding results and that all of the different businesses and organizations that have contributed to the city’s growth are being seen.

“It feels like recognition where recognition is due,” said Garden. “It’s great to see that celebrated.”