City of Evansville Economic Development Commission Meeting – June 18, 2026
City of Evansville Economic Development Commission Meeting – June 18, 2026
The Evansville Economic Development Commission met on June 18, 2026, at 11:30 AM to approve minutes, hold a public hearing, and vote on a proposal to finance the adaptive reuse of the former Cargus furniture factory into multifamily housing. The meeting concluded with unanimous approval of the report and resolution authorizing $6 million in taxable economic development revenue bonds for the project.
Consent Calendar
- Minutes Approval: The commission approved the minutes of the previous meeting after correcting the spelling of member Juhl's last name. The motion carried with a second.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No members of the public were present to offer comment on the Cargus Lofts proposal.
Discussion Items
- Cargus Lofts Project Overview: Staff presented the proposed financing for AP Development LLC and AP Cargus Lofts LLC. The project involves adaptive reuse of the former Cargus furniture factory (addresses 1501 West Maryland and 1516 Fountain Avenue) into 125 multifamily units. Total project costs are estimated at $30 million, with $6 million to be issued through taxable economic development revenue bonds. Staff explained that the bonds are a developer-purchase mechanism where the city pledges the project’s tax increment (TIF) revenues to secure a loan, but the city incurs no obligation; any shortfall is the developer’s responsibility. The project is described as workforce housing serving households at 50–80% of area median income.
- Commissioner Questions: A new commissioner asked clarifying questions about the bond structure and whether the city is lending money. Staff confirmed the city does not lend; the bonds allow the developer to obtain a larger loan based on the TIF pledge. Another commissioner asked about an affordable housing component; staff clarified the units are workforce housing, not luxury, and not subsidized by low-income housing tax credits. Commissioner Patrick disclosed that his organization (EREP) has a management agreement with the Southwest Indiana Regional Development Authority, which has a subgrant agreement with the project, but he has no personal financial benefit; the chair ruled it was not a conflict under Indiana law.
Key Outcomes
- Approval of Resolution 26 EEDC 02: The commission voted unanimously (all ayes) to approve the report and resolution authorizing the $6 million in taxable economic development revenue bonds for the Cargus Lofts project. The motion included both the report (Item 3a) and the resolution (Item 3b).
- No Other Business: The commission had no other business to discuss and adjourned.
Meeting Transcript
All right. Welcome everyone to the City of Evansville Economic Development Commission meeting. And it is 11:30. So we're going to call this meeting to order. First order of business, the approval of minutes. Everybody have a chance to read them over. I just have one correction before approval. Just your last name, I think. Yeah. Yeah. Should be J-U-H-L. I think it's J-U-L-H. It's different in throughout. Yeah, thank you. That's all. Okay, we will get that fixed going forward. Thank you. Any other concerns, questions, issues regarding the minutes. A motion to approve the minutes with the proposed updates. Second. Second. Thank you. Minutes have been approved. Number three. So the public hearing for the car is it carges? Is that how cargus? Thank you. Cargus Lofts. So looking over the report, report of the City of Evansville Economic Development Commission concerning the proposed financing of the economic development facilities for AP development LLC and AP Cargus Lofts LLC. And then the resolution 26 EEDC 02. A resolution of the City of Evansville Economic Development Commission approving and authorizing certain actions and proceedings with respect to certain proposed taxable economic development tax increment revenue bonds. Any questions or comments? Sure, I'll jump in here. So since a lot of us are new, just to just remind the commissioners what their role is here. So this commission's job is to provide an independent review of projects that utilize public finance options. And in this case, what's being done is it's what we often refer to in the development world as a developer purchase bond. And so this is not going to be an obligation in the city of Evansville, but what we are doing is we're going to be issuing bonds whereby the city pledges the TIFF revenues, the tax increment generated by the project specifically. And it's a way to help projects that otherwise might not make sense financially or economically to incentivize developers to do more difficult projects. And in this case, is very much that type of project because it's they're taking the old cargus furniture factory and turning it into a multifamily. So that is always more expensive to retrofit old than compared to just building new. So the city believes this is a great project, you know, taking in a neighborhood that needs the housing and taking a property that's fallen into disuse for a long long time and turning it into multifamily. So this commission finds an independent review. We take uh comment from the public, and that's what this process is right now. Obviously, there's no one here to provide any comment, but you can imagine maybe if if something was a little more controversial, someone might show up and explain why it's unfair that they're getting this public benefit. And that's where you guys would come in. So your role is to take public comment, determine that the project benefits the public generally, and make sure it's not you know unfair uh in some way economically. So um, so here we are. Uh, this is the public comment portion, but I don't think there's anyone here to talk. So anyway, uh any questions about any of that? I was gonna give a couple project specifics, if that's okay.
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