NJ tax credit could help private construction


George Filopoulos and Jersey City Medical Center
A proposed bill awaiting approval in the New Jersey Senate would allow the state to join 31 others in providing property tax incentives to developers working on historic buildings, highlighting the role that the public sector is playing in private construction projects, according to the Wall Street Journal. Developer George Filopoulos is hopeful that it will be approved and help him continue his redevelopment of the old Jersey City Medical Center into a 14-acre mixed-use complex that he has named the Beacon. The conversion of the 10-building medical complex could qualify for as much as $87 million in tax credits. “Especially today, anything we can do to reduce the amount we have to borrow from the bank is essential,” Filopoulos said. Filopoulos — who has been working on the project since 2003 — has already converted two of the buildings to luxury apartments and built 45,000 square feet of amenities, including a pool and fitness center. Over the next five years, he hopes to add an additional 1,000 units. Filopoulos’s company, Metrovest Equities, is also awaiting a separate $15 million tax credit for the Beacon from the federal government that has been tied up for months in Congress. [WSJ]

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