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Tax credit in works for Broderick, other projects

A tax credit for historic rehabilitation pending in the Legislature means the $55 million redevelopment of the David Broderick Tower in Detroit could get started in three months, said Fred Beal, president of Motown Construction Partners L.P., the legal entity developing the project. Beal is also president of Detroit-based J.C. Beal Construction Inc.

The tax credit, versions of which have been approved by the state House and Senate, aids the 127-unit apartment development and 20,000 square feet of office and retail space planned on Woodward Avenue near Grand Circus Park.

The Senate last week passed Bill 944, sponsored by Jason Allen, R-Traverse City, which would allow the Broderick Tower and two other projects to use Michigan Business Tax historic rehabilitation tax credits.

The other projects are:

• The $145 million A. Alfred Taubman Center for Design Education, formerly called the Argonaut Building. The 11-story building, once the home of now-General Motor Co.'s design center, was redeveloped as an expansion of the College for Creative Studies. The building was completed in September.

• Rehabilitation of the Federal Building in downtown Grand Rapids, to house Ferris State University's Kendall College of Art and Design.

The bill would retain a $3 million annual cap on the amount of tax credits a project can claim in one year. A similar House-passed bill, 5479, sponsored by Rep. Bert Johnson, D-Detroit, would also aid the three projects but allow for a $4.6 million tax credit for the Argonaut redevelopment.