Donjek :: The Cents of Place Blog

Donjek Project: Picturing Value in Walkable Neighborhoods

Over the last several months, I have been working with developer and consultant Michael Lander (Lander Group) and urban designer Peter Musty (Peter Musty LLC) to develop a concise, visual statement about the prospective impact that transportation investments can stimulate. Hopefully, you'll find the graphic product below clear and persuasive - and you can download a pdf version here if you prefer.

Value Capture Finance: Seeing is Believing

One of the trends I've observed here over the last year, is that multiple factors are prompting more consideration of value capture finance - the mechanics of "capturing" development values and benefits to pay for elements of the development itself.  Among the drivers are:

• Diminishing public willingness to support funding for services traditionally considered to be core public functions; 
• Increasing gathering of data and readiness of access to this data; and
• Improving ability to use this data to measure property value, patterns of how people use places, and the economic health of small or large areas (just to cite a few examples) using geographic information systems (GIS).

Value capture finance, in summary, is a method of using future financial or economic benefits precipitated by a development, to repay part or all of the debt incurred to create the development in the first place.  A typical example is tax increment finance (TIF), authorized in forty-eight U.S. states, which allows increased tax revenues (property and/or sales) generated by redevelopment to be channeled to the project’s debt service or other uses.  A less typical example, not currently contemplated in Minnesota law, is the financing of public fixed-rail infrastructure through commercial districts, using neighboring properties’ increased tax revenues caused by enhanced access to LRT or streetcar service. 

I’ve just completed some analysis for the Midtown Community Works partnership pursuing this line of inquiry:  If state law could be amended to allow for a "transit TIF" district, for example, what kind of value could be captured in future years?  How much capital could be raised by borrowing against these future tax receipts?  What planning and equity issues demand consideration in exploring such an approach?  

This concept may strike some readers as marginal to the planning and public finance worlds.  I don’t agree.  The three forces described above are at the root of analysis commissioned by the Minnesota Legislature earlier this year, and continuing economic impact analysis of the state’s first LRT line, the Hiawatha.  Identifying what value is created by transit infrastructure is a critical step in leveraging this value for investment in a regional system, and made more feasible by improvements in GIS technology. 

And regardless of whether the infrastructure is constructed by a private, public or public/private entity, the end outcome - investment in places that work for people - represents an increasingly important competitive advantage for regions in the U.S. and abroad.

Donjek Tools: Tax Increment Financing Made Visual

Planners, architects and developers have long been masters of the visual.  It’s difficult to deny the power of a colorful drawing to communicate design, use and how changes to the landscape can improve the spirit of a place; projecting the image on a large scale can further amplify this kind of communication.

The financial mechanics that underlie any plan are not only more difficult to convey in a physical sense – they also place a presenter in jeopardy of alienating and boring an audience.  Still, an understanding of how master plans and site plans will be financed, and how their development will affect the larger financial health of a community, are critical issues that require public discussion before moving ahead.  Full understanding of these issues by key members of your audience will streamline your process and align expectations with reality. 

Tax increment financing (“TIF”) districts are a redevelopment tool employed in every U.S. state except Arizona.  While publicized abuses have tarnished the political image of this tool, it remains a critical mechanism, trapping incremental property tax revenue from redevelopment for repayment of the debt used to finance the improvements in the first place.  Structuring a TIF district requires a discussion of variables ranging from the state’s tax treatment of different types of property to the post-redevelopment value of parcels, projected appreciation rates, absorption of redeveloped space into the market, and the cost of capital.  See the eyes of the audience glazing over?

The Donjek InstanTIF decision tool allows audiences to engage TIF in an interactive way thanks to a number of attributes.  The tool:

• Allows a presenter to show the various parcels in a proposed TIF district as a map on a screen, with colors to reflect assumptions about appreciation in the future.

• Illustrates the essential items for calculations, allowing a presenter to convey more detail if desired.

• Gives members of an audience real-time feedback about how changes to one or more variables would change TIF cash flows and consequently the amount of borrowing the district can sustain.

• Can be presented in tandem with graphic data layered through GIS software, to illustrate demographic and market trends of significance.

The InstanTIF tool is custom tailored for each proposed TIF district.  Moving forward, consider this decision tool for future discussions with investors, public officials or community members, and extend the communicative power of pictures to project finance.

InstanTIF software design, text, graphics, and mechanics are Copyright 2007 by Jon Commers. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Any use of this software, including reproduction, modification, distribution or republication, without the prior written consent of Jon Commers, is strictly prohibited.