It may sound counterintuitive to volunteer for a higher property tax bill, but that’s exactly what the firm redeveloping the former Rivergate Mall site is doing.
That’s because Merus, which is redeveloping the roughly 57-acre property in Goodlettsville, is digging into the toolbox and employing a relatively new alternative funding tool for what Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s office says is the first time in Nashville.
At the firm’s request, the Metro Nashville Council on Oct. 6 passed a resolution establishing the Rivergate Infrastructure Development District, which will cover the entire footprint of the project aiming to revitalize the area with new housing, retail, restaurants, entertainment facilities and more.
The new independent special
tax district was enabled in the first place by the Tennessee General Assembly’s Residential Infrastructure Development Act of 2024, which established such districts as an alternative funding mechanism to finance infrastructure costs related to residential development. That legislation authorized counties to borrow money to pay for those costs, with special assessments collected to cover costs paid by the county.
Developers say construction costs will total at least $30 million, of which $13,375,000 is already accounted for thanks to another type of infrastructure funding tool: tax-exempt bonds that Nashville’s Industrial Development Board can choose to issue for things like public infrastructure projects.
The special tax levy is intended to fill in that approximately $17 million gap. The levy could vary from one parcel to another on the property, as they’ll each see their individual assessed values adjusted from year to year, but they can’t exceed $0.99 per $100 of assessed value. The special annual tax will remain in place for no more than 30 years.
“It’s a new tool in the toolbox, and I think it’ll be used (in places) other than Rivergate,” said District 10 council member Jennifer Frensley Webb, the resolution’s main sponsor, at the council’s Oct. 6 meeting.
Austin Hornbostel is the Metro reporter for The Tennessean. Have a question about local government you want an answer to? Reach him at ahornbostel@tennessean.com.
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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Rivergate Mall redeveloper agrees to higher tax bill. Here's why
