The Madison Common Council on Tuesday lifted a 50 percent pre-lease requirement to provide a construction loan for a proposed business incubator.
The council’s action allows planning to proceed for BioLink, a 31,000-square-foot project that will hold a greenhouse, office and research space for new businesses in the city. The project will be developed by the non-profit Madison Development Corp., and last month received a $4.5 million grant from the U.S. Economic Development Association.
However, the federal money would have been unattainable unless the city freed up a $2 million tax incremental financing loan it approved last year for the project. TIF districts let municipalities borrow money to subsidize developments and pay for utility and street work that serves projects. Communities then use new taxes generated by the developments in the district to pay off the debt.