Cape Coral Grove PROVIDED

Cape Coral City Council is expected to decide Wednesday whether to approve an Enhanced Property Value Recapture Grant to support development for Cape Coral Grove, a mixed-use $700 million project with an estimated economic impact of $1.3 billion.

The purpose of the grant is to attract the larger-scale private capital investment and redevelopment, officials said.

Cape Coral Grove, to be located on a 131-acre lot on Pine Island Road between Chiquita Boulevard and Burnt Store Road, is to feature a variety of retail spaces, entertainment venues, hotel, and luxury apartments and townhomes.

According to the city’s Economic Development Office website, the city’s Enhanced Property Value Recapture Grants are “designed to attract larger-scale private capital investment and/or redevelopment into a mixed-use or nonresidential project site to create a destination, town center or mixed-use development” or to redevelop properties within the Community Redevelopment Area.

Such projects “expand the tax base, create employment opportunities, or attract targeted industries and businesses.”

They work by establishing a “base year” assessed property value from the Property Appraiser’s database for the project, then computing a percentage of the incremental increase in ad valorem taxes on real and/or tangible personal property paid by the Project above the base year amount.

The difference, up to 20 percent of the total project cost, is then available as a grant to incentivize the project.

“Total project cost” is defined as the cost of development of the project “including all, site development, and public infrastructure, and building and site amenity costs necessary to complete the project.”

According to documents attached to the agenda item, “The cumulative total annual incentive grants available is up to $122,993,856. Eligible expenditures for the grant funds are limited to public improvements associated with the project.”

The grant, if approved, will be available for 25 years. It would begin on the date that the first annual incentive grant is paid, which “shall be no earlier than Jan. 1 of the base tax year of the earliest eligible parcel.”

“The full annual incentive grant, applying to all eligible parcels within the project, shall be available from and after the tax year that the full eligible commercial uses first appear on the Lee County tax roll and shall be equal to 95% of the incremental increase in the applicable ad valorem taxes from the base tax year ad valorem taxes on real and/or tangible personal property actually paid by the eligible parcels,” the grant proposal for this project states.

The Wednesday, Aug. 21, meeting will be held at 4:30 p.m. in City Council chambers, 1015 Cultural Park Blvd. The meeting is open to the public.