LANSING, Mich. — Lansing City Council gave final approval Monday, Nov. 9, to 15-year property tax exemptions for about 440 apartments run by one landlord, Simtob Management. Members voted 8-0 on each of four separate ordinances for the Flatz complexes.
The four properties are Baltic Flatz on West Cavanaugh Road with at least 84 units, Pacific Flatz on East Kalamazoo Street with at least 103, Carolina Flatz, with at least 116 units, near Risdale Avenue and Pleasant Grove Road, and Ventnor Flatz, with at least 137 units, by Dorchester Circle and the Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard corridor.
Under a state workforce housing program known as PILOT, each owner pays a share of the rent it collects rather than regular property taxes. Baltic, Pacific and Ventnor pay 4 percent. Carolina pays 6 percent. The exemptions run through 2041, and the ordinances label the units workforce rentals with a cap on rents.
As votes were taken, one member asked what would follow if the promised improvements are not delivered. The city attorney said the city can end an exemption going forward, for example if rents climb past the allowed ceiling, but cannot make the owner repay taxes already forgiven.
The company has said it has put $9 million on repairs and expects to invest another $11 million across five years. It also committed that at three of its buildings, 51 percent of apartments would rent at levels affordable to households earning no more than 80 percent of area median income. The city sued the company in 2023 over red-tagged units at a different complex, and the company says its buildings met code by November 2024.
Council also scheduled a Nov. 16 public hearing on a proposal that would bar landlords from rejecting applicants over a criminal history without further review.
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