Developer seeks tax-plan agreement for Camden town houses

A developer seeking a 20-year Payment in Lieu of Taxes agreement for 175 low-income properties it plans to rehabilitate in Camden's Lanning Square and Bergen Square neighborhoods cleared the first hurdle Tuesday.

Camden City Council approved an ordinance on first reading to grant Broadway Townhouses, owned by Roizman Development of Plymouth Meeting, a so-called PILOT agreement, which the company said would put at least $175,000 a year in city coffers. The company pays city taxes estimated at a little less than half that amount.

A final vote is expected at the next Council meeting April 9.

In exchange for the PILOT, Roizman has vowed to invest $100,000 in the interior and exterior rehabilitation of each of the 175 units. Its financing agreement with PNC Bank for the $17.5 million needed for the renovations is conditional upon approval of a 20-year agreement with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for Section 8 housing, and a 20-year PILOT agreement with the city, according to the proposal.

"It's going to enhance the neighborhood," City Attorney Marc Riondino said of the overall plan.

However, City Councilman Brian Coleman was skeptical of the city's getting a fair share of money for the 175 properties.

Camden, named the poorest city in the country last year, is far from self-sufficient. More than 52 percent of properties are tax-exempt and state aid provides nearly 70 percent of the city's budget.

Roizman, which manages the 175-unit Broadway Townhouses and the 91-unit Camden Townhouses, purchased the properties for both projects in the early '90s with loans and a long-term tax abatement. An Inquirer article in January 2011 showed that Roizman owed at least $6.9 million in loan payments to the state and an unspecified amount on a mortgage with the city.

On Tuesday, state Department of Community Affairs spokeswoman Tammori Petty said Roizman was working to refinance and restructure its loan deal for Broadway Townhouses using a 4 percent Low Income Housing Tax Credit. A "restructuring plan" also is under development for Camden Townhouses. Details were not available Tuesday.

Roizman began paying taxes on the Broadway Townhouses in 2009, said city Finance Director Glynn Jones. Last year the city received $74,000 of the total $144,000 that Broadway Townhouses paid in taxes; the rest was divided between the school district and the county, officials said.

Both the city and Roizman say Camden would receive more money under the PILOT agreement.

After the meeting, when a reporter asked Broadway Townhouses vice president Noam Roizman for the total value of the 175 units, he said he did not immediately have that information.

Though there are various Broadway Townhouses scattered just south of Cooper University Hospital and the new Cooper Medical School of Rowan University - one of the city's most promising areas for development - the properties hardly increased in value during the large reassessment the city completed in 2011.

The company estimates the first-year PILOT payment would be $181,000 based on the formula being applied, 9.1 percent of the annual gross shelter rent. The minimum annual PILOT payment would be $175,000.

In addition to the in-lieu agreement, Roizman also is promising a one-time $300,000 bonus to the city as well as paying for one Eye in the Sky security camera at an unspecified cost.