Houston Feels Downtown’s Lively Enough to Stop Development Tax Break

A tax initiative aimed at bringing 24/7 life to downtown Houston a 24/7 is no longer taking applications.

(Photo by Eflon)

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Just a few years ago, downtown Houston was a busy business center by day and almost completely empty by night — and known more for its sprawltastic, zoning code-eschewing ways. In 2012, Houston’s Downtown Living Initiative was introduced to encourage builders and residents to come to the area.

The program, which offered up to $15,000 in tax breaks per multifamily unit, was successful. Now, with only 45 units left before developers hit the initiative’s 5,000-unit cap, the city is no longer taking applications. That cap was raised from 2,500 just last year.

“(There are) enough units being built right now that will create more of a neighborhood,” Bob Eury of Central Houston Inc. told the Houston Business Journal. “It will only help possibilities of more residential to follow.”

The Business Journal lists eight projects under construction, with completion dates ranging from this year to 2017, and 10 planned developments in the works for the downtown area.

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Jenn Stanley is a freelance journalist, essayist and independent producer living in Chicago. She has an M.S. from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.

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Tags: real estatetaxesinclusionary zoninghouston

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