MISHAWAKA — City council voted 5-3 to approve a five-year property tax abatement to help developer Scott Sivan with an apartment building southeast of Main Street and Mishawaka Avenue with views of the St. Joseph River.
Construction on the roughly $13 million River Walk Apartments, which would include 50 to 60 units, could begin next March and finish in 2019, Sivan said.
Mayor Dave Wood argued for the abatement, saying Sivan “made a believer of all of us” by completing the River Rock Apartments northwest of Main and Mishawaka last year, now with just two or three out of 73 units vacant.
And in this proposal, Wood said, Sivan is offering to make use of a cramped, sloped and vacant city lot that most people don’t realize is there. To make it work, he noted, Sivan would go through extra expense, including the steel framing that’s needed to rise eight stories.
When asked, Sivan said he couldn’t afford to move ahead with the project if the council denied the abatement. Without it, he said he’d be able to build the apartments but would lose money while paying bills during the first few years after completion.