BUILDING BLOCKS: Ajax project in Racine

ADDRESS: 1520 and 1536 Clark St., Racine

COST: $30 million

SIZE: Two, four-story apartment buildings

START OF WORK: Almost immediately upon governmental approval

EXPECTED COMPLETION: No later than Dec. 31, 2020

DEVELOPER: Cardinal Capital Management Inc., West Allis

SIGNIFICANCE OF PROJECT: The project will entail the demolition of two old industrial structures and their replacement with one apartment building with 87 market-rate units and one with 54 units for low-income tenants. The first building will have 130 parking spaces, 75 of them inside, and the second will have 75 parking spaces, 36 inside.

The developer has also acquired the former Pabst Pub building nearby and will use it for site offices and to provide space for a community room and an on-site police officer.

If local officials approve the plans, the developer will acquire the land for the market-rate building for $9,999 and the land for the low-income building for $1. The developer will guarantee its project will increase the value of the sites by at least $12 million.

Taxes on those improvements will go into a Tax Increment Finance district which will ultimately contribute no more than $3 million toward the project. Other city incentives will come in the form of a $1 million site-remediation and parking incentive, a $900,000 city loan and a $600,000 Community Development Block Grant loan.

Among the things the developer is providing in return are an equity investment of at least 15% of the project’s cost and low-income-housing tax credits from the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority.