{"id":46849,"date":"2025-11-28T13:26:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T13:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/46849\/"},"modified":"2025-11-28T13:26:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T13:26:07","slug":"dixie-cup-redevelopment-will-forge-ahead-despite-tax-incentive-rejection-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/46849\/","title":{"rendered":"Dixie Cup redevelopment will forge ahead despite tax incentive rejection: report"},"content":{"rendered":"

Developer Brian Bartee of Skyline Investment Group is reportedly moving forward with plans to redevelop the former Dixie Cup factory in Wilson Borough<\/a> into 405 apartments despite losing a key tax incentive.<\/p>\n

The $160 million project sought local approvals for Tax Increment Financing<\/a>, or TIF, which would have allowed local taxing bodies to delay increasing the property\u2019s assessed value for a set number of years. The resulting tax revenue from the higher assessment would have been used to pay off bonds issued for construction.<\/p>\n

Wilson Borough Council and the Wilson Area School District<\/a> approved the TIF proposal. Northampton County Council voted it down in early November<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bartee described the outcome as disappointing but said the development will proceed. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis was not an unexpected result,\u201d he said, according to a report earlier this month in Lehigh Valley Business<\/a>. \u201cI had a plan for this. It\u2019s not going to slow us down. It\u2019s too important for too many people.\u201d<\/p>\n

He indicated to the business news organization he may seek TIF support again next year, noting that the three county council members who opposed the measure did not win re-election.<\/p>\n

County council members cited several reasons for rejecting the plan at their meeting in early November. They raised concerns about granting tax breaks to a developer while the county faces budget pressures. <\/p>\n

They also questioned whether the arrangement could shift future tax burdens onto residents.<\/p>\n

Council members also argued during the meeting that the $1.1 million designated for affordable housing was insufficient for a project of this size. Additional concerns included the 20-year length of the TIF, uncertainty in long-term financial projections, and whether TIFs should be used to support private redevelopment.<\/p>\n

Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure criticized the council\u2019s decision in a statement<\/a>, saying it demonstrated that members were \u201cout of touch\u201d with residents. He added that the council \u201cdropped the ball,\u201d calling the decision another missed opportunity for economic growth and community investment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey continue to prove themselves to be the most useless county council in home rule history,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Developer Brian Bartee of Skyline Investment Group is reportedly moving forward with plans to redevelop the former Dixie…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46850,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":{"0":"post-46849","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-bethlehem","9":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","10":"tag-bethlehem-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}