200 East State Street will be used by Heartland Bank once improvements are done by the City

With the recent purchase of another downtown building at 100 East State Street, the City of Jefferson now owns seven storefront buildings.

A few years ago, the City Council started a program that allows for $150,000 of tax increment financing (TIF) funds to be used for improvements on each building annually. The Council also set a maximum total of $600,000 to be used. City Administrator Mike Palmer says the Council held a discussion about future ownership of buildings at a special meeting earlier this week. 

“The general feeling was, let’s get some of these buildings done and get them on the market, get them leased out. Ultimately we want to get them sold, is our big push. But our next (regular) meeting they’ve asked (Building Official) Nick Sorensen if he can provide an update on where we are with these different buildings and perhaps some timelines of when they will be completed.”

Some of the buildings the City owns include: 205 North Wilson Avenue, purchased in 2015; 200 East State Street, purchased in 2016; the former Pizza Ranch building at 206 North Wilson Avenue, purchased in 2017; and the City purchased this year 107 North Chestnut Street and the aforementioned 100 East State Street. Palmer notes the properties at 100 and 200 East State streets have businesses and investors lined up to buy them when improvements are complete.