Pittsburgh Homes Daily

I guess I am going to have to do some research to learn more about the Pittsburgh tax abatements which just passed city council, unless someone stumbles upon this article that knows more than I do and can help me out. Pittsburgh Tribune-Review article here.

Let’s take a specific example:
Charlie Batch is doing wonderful things in Homestead and is working on converting an old building. Let’s make the assumption that Homestead is covered and he is planning on turning them into condos (I guess I just want to give Batch some kudos - since Homestead is not covered and he is actually turning them into loft-apartments). Does the tax abatement help him? Certainly it lowers the cost of the units for prospective purchasers. But I don’t know that it saves him any money. Does it? I guess if the units remain vacant. Any other way?

It clearly helps out developers of apartments, since the landlord will benefit from the tax breaks. But Pittsburgh has already lost one condo project to an apartment building because of historic tax credits favoring apartments. And at least in Batch’s case, the County is already tossing in $1.5 million for the project. Most of the big development projects downtown have similar public money.

I am just trying to figure out how and where this tax abatement will spur development. So, anyone know exactly what the measure that passed today said and where I can read a good account of it online? I checked Antirust, but the lengthy debate their focused on the inclusion of downtown and the vitality of the downtown market - and I didn’t see this angle of it addressed.