We believe in smart, inclusive development.
By leveraging blended capital strategies, the Tucson IDA promotes
affordable housing, business retention, expansion, and attraction, and
infrastructure investments for a strong economic future.
Supporting Public-Benefit Projects
Private Activity Bonds
Private Activity Bonds help reduce the cost of debt-capital for qualified, public-benefit projects.
The Industrial Development Authority of the City of Tucson, Arizona (“Tucson IDA”) is a nonprofit corporation and political subdivision of the State of Arizona. As a conduit issuer of revenue bonds, the Tucson IDA offers a way for private borrowers to receive the benefits of tax-exempt bond financing. The Tucson IDA is authorized to issue bonds and loan the proceeds to a private borrower to assist in financing qualifying projects. The Tucson IDA does not lend its own money to fund the bond financing, but rather bond proceeds originate from a bank or bondholders. Repayment of the bonds is the sole obligation of the borrower.
In order for the bonds to receive tax-exempt classification, the project financed with the bond proceeds must have a public purpose and must be considered governmental or a qualified private activity bond as defined by the Internal Revenue Code. Tax-exempt interest means lower rates for the borrower and, therefore, reduce overall borrowing costs.
Private Activity Bonds are a "blended capital" strategy which helps to secure private investment to finance projects that provide a public benefit. Borrowers are private parties, including corporations, limited liability companies, limited partnerships or nonprofit corporations.
Apply Now
Please review our Procedural Policies and Application Guidelines prior to application.
Please be aware, that unless otherwise stated, there is a $3,000 non-refundable application fee.
$1,000 is due upon application submission.
Please contact Dre Thompson at dre@tucsonida.org for further questions.
Community Catalyst Project
Coming Soon!
With rising labor, material, and financing costs we understand it is
getting harder to make great projects "pencil". We are working on building out a suite of services to help developers manage these market conditions to build community-benefit projects, with an emphasis on empowering economic justice through inclusive development resources.
Contact Dre Thompson at dre@tucsonida.org to chat through your project and how we might be able to assist.
Pre-development Accelerator:
We would engage in pad-development through upzoning, remediation, and value-add infrastructure improvements. By putting the right building-blocks in place, we can help shape affordable developing in-line with community goals.
Pre-Development Assistance Fund:
Provide a low-cost capital source to support local, diverse, small developers in off-setting pre-development costs.
Development Apprenticeship Program:
Working with seasoned developers and the Inclusive Development Initiative, we will create a series of technical assistance programs to teach women and minority community members, interested in development, how to navigate the system to diversify our local community resources of community builders.
Lease-to-Own Model:
Increase local ownership by buying commercial real-estate and
leasing it to own to local entrepreneurs (potentially with easements in place to
prevent "flipping" property).
Community Land Trusts & Easements:
Building up land trusts and easements on property to ensure long term alignments of land use. We have a particular interest in addressing climate issues through easements for regenerative agriculture.
Purchase Order Financing:
Supply Chain Financing determines businesses’ creditworthiness on their promise for future revenue as opposed to current assets. Purchase Order Financing will allow businesses to borrow against fulfilled or almost complete but yet to be paid orders to help smooth cash flows and not turn to higher cost alternatives. This change in lending has significant implications for retail business looking to scale and overcome racial inequities in lending practices.
Supplier Diversity and Contractor Development:
Public contracts represent significant opportunities for small business and especially underrepresented entrepreneurs looking to grow their businesses and build wealth. Unfortunately many are locked out by bonding requirements and delayed payment by procurers. This program will provide business services but also capital to smooth cash flow for
businesses ready to take on contract work but needing a hand to get started.
Real Estate Opportunities
The Tucson IDA has a number of properties that are ready for development.
Take a look and let us know if your project idea might be a fit for purchase, co-development, or ground-lease.
BLOCK 175
Block 175 is the future site of an urban Class ‘A’ mixed-use development nestled in the heart of Tucson’s downtown. Future tenants at Block 175 will have the opportunity to appeal to the live, work, and play lifestyle of the modern urbanite leveraging downtown’s continually growing list of unique eateries and trendy nightlife options. With over 30 projects currently planned or in development, downtown Tucson is projected to grow its retail, office, and flex space by more than 750,000 square feet to accommodate for the unprecedented demand and future growth of the area.
450 N Main
Intended to be used as an affordable housing development, the Property consists of 2 separate parcels:
Parcel 1 is immediately adjacent to the East of Parcel 2 and is bounded by Main Avenue to the East and Parcel 2 to the North.
Parcel 1’s APN is 116-19-0140. It is comprised of 6730 square feet or 0.15 acres. It formerly housed the restaurant known as Art’s Barbecue, which has 2241 square feet. Parcel 2 consists of 25,576 square feet or 0.59 acres.
Incentives & Grants
A variety of programs to help support great projects in Tucson including TIFs, overlays, and grant programs for developers.
Affordable Housing Predevelopment Loan Fund
The Arizona Community Foundation Predevelopment fund was established in 2007 to jump-start the development of affordable housing projects throughout Arizona. Loans from this fund primarily address obstacles faced by nonprofit developers in relation to up-front predevelopment costs that are necessary to secure permanent financing.
Innovative Clean Energy Loan Guarantees
This federal program provides access to debt capital for large-scale energy projects that use innovative technology.
Projects using technology that has not been deployed at commercial-scale often face difficultly accessing debt from private lenders because the technology does not have a history of commercial operation.
45L Tax Credits for Zero Energy Ready Homes
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) amended Internal Revenue Code Section 45L to provide taxpayers with a tax credit for eligible new or substantially reconstructed homes that meet applicable ENERGY STAR home program or DOE Zero Energy Ready Home (ZERH) program requirements.
Brownfields Grant
Brownfields are abandoned, idled, or under-used property where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived contamination. The land may be contaminated by hazardous waste or pollution but can be reused once the land has been thoroughly cleaned up. The Brownfields Program in Tucson seeks to reclaim these brownfields to redevelop them into productive private or public property for re-use.
Primary Jobs Incentive
The Primary Jobs Incentive assists Tucson in its efforts to bring quality jobs and investment into the region. The incentive provides up to a 100% reimbursement of a portion of City construction sales tax to qualifying expenses such as the project’s public infrastructure improvements, offsets to impact fees, and/or job-training.
Site-Specific Sale Tax Incentive
The Site Specific Sales Tax Incentive supports retail projects that would not otherwise locate in the City of Tucson. For qualified businesses, the City may apply project-generated tax revenues to qualifying public expenses such as job training or public infrastructure improvements. The project must be a retail project.
Sunshine Mile Urban Overlay District
The Sunshine Mile is an iconic and historic area of Tucson on Broadway Boulevard east of downtown. It is a vibrant district for commerce and culture: currently being injected with fresh life.
The district fall within the Rio Nuevo TIF district and includes incentives and tools for infill redevelopment.
Downtown Infill Incentive District
The Infill Incentive District, or IID for short, is the land use tool that has facilitated much of the development in the greater downtown area. It provides zoning overlays and incentives to encourage transit-oriented development, affordable housing, high-density infill development in Downtown Tucson
Tucson Norte-Sur
Tucson Norte-Sur is a plan that will work with Tucson communities to identify opportunities for equitable reinvestment and access along a future 15-mile long North-South High Capacity Transit (HCT) corridor connecting the Tucson Mall on the northside to downtown Tucson and to the Tucson Airport on the southside.
Grant Road Land Use Planning
The GRID is an overlay zone, which is a regulatory tool that creates a special zoning district placed over the existing zoning. This special zoning district provides provisions in addition to the existing zoning to allow for developmental flexibility and site specific solutions to redevelopment.