The City Bond Board on Friday gave a final approval for setting up a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District for a developer to build an extension of MLK Boulevard across Riverfront Parkway to the Riverwalk.
Officials said the project will begin early next month and be completed by late fall.
The IDB had already acted on the TIF, but City Attorney Phil Noblett said he had noticed that no approval had earlier been authorized for proceeding with the loan documents.
Sam Hodges, an attorney from Nashville representing Pinnacle Bank, said developer Aaron White was anxious to get started with the work. "He keeps calling me about getting the loan documents approved," he said.
Board members were told that the last possible date for the TIF to remain in operation is November 2036. After that, if the project is not finished, the developer would be in default.
There are four parcels involved in the TIF and it was noted that projects are almost complete on some of those lots.
The TIF would start running on some of the parcels before others as the projects are completed and the assessor puts on the new values, it was stated.
Attorney Noblett said the TIF was used so the short road to Blue Goose Hollow trail head could be built by the Nashville developer "and it would not be on the city's dime."
However, Helen Burns Sharp, a critic of the MLK TIF, said the longer the TIF runs the more tax revenue will be shifted away from services such as fire and police. The tax proceeds would go to the developer to pay for the road project - with the exception of the school portion - under the TIF.