Special Board of Aldermen 09-28-2020 Page 15
Alderman Cleaver
Yes, thank you Mr. Chairman. | am trying to understand why we are combining financing of the Performing
Arts Center with the project associated with School Street. To me, they are very, very different projects,
different pros and cons, different concepts entirely and not related except for both are in Nashua. | don’t
understand why one piece of Legislation is dealing with the financing of both together and it makes no
sense.
Chairman Dowd
Who wants to address that? Director Cummings?
Director Cummings
Thank you, so the answer is two-fold. First, when you create TIF’s you can do them and have them be
project specific. That’s one this one sort of is; it’s a little bit more of the traditional sense in terms of having
it broader than one project. And | really wanted to make it broader than one project so it could support the
downtown holistically which is why the Performing Arts Center was included. So it’s more of a
philosophical idea of using TIF to redevelop the downtown or redevelop a certain portion of your
community which this absolutely does. And second to that, but just as important, both projects wouldn't
move forward unless the developer was willing to do the project. The developer and | can share with you,
you know, provided us with a letter saying that they very much wanted the Performing Arts Center in the
City of Nashua. And the reason why he originally got involved with the project was because of the
Performing Arts Center coming. So it made sense to just create a structure where we could do both at the
same time. And that’s what ultimately is happening here, is just allowing us to be able to do both projects,
which are both priorities, through the TIF.
Chairman Dowd
Follow up, Alderman Cleaver?
Alderman Cleaver
Follow up. Thank you, the implication being that without School Street, the Performing Arts Center is not
going forward and | fail to understand the logic behind that.
Chairman Dowd
Director Cummings?
Director Cummings
Well we wouldn’t be able to make the timelines that Mascoma has asked for us to make to get the New
Market Tax Credit. We wouldn't be able to have the $4 million dollars of non-City money available and we
wouldn't be able to move the project along. So everything builds on top of one another. | don’t know how
often I’ve been saying this to various folks that this is just how, you know, it’s each side is working to build
towards a certain end goal and that’s how this got structured.
Chairman Dowd
I'll take a stab and if I’m wrong someone can clarify. But | think that the person that is involved with building
the School Street Apartments believes that if the Performing Arts Center is in place that the City, the
downtown will be thriving for many years to come. That increases the probability of his investment being
