Former Alderwoman Wins Tax Break for Home on Street Named After Her Own Family

Former 5th Ward Alderwoman Tammika Hubbard has secured a 10-year property tax abatement to build a three-bedroom, three-bath home on vacant land in Carr Square — land that sits on Jonas Hubbard Street, a road she herself sponsored legislation to name while still in office. Hubbard is the only person identified on the building permit application, and she did not attend the meeting where the St. Louis Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority approved the incentive on Tuesday.

The abatement, first reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, will freeze the assessed value of Hubbard's future home for a decade once construction is complete, covering 50% of the property's assessed value for the first 10 years and an additional five years at 20%, according to the newspaper's reporting on city staff recommendations. Hubbard does not have to live on the property to keep the abatement, per the same account. The land itself came to her years ago from her father's politically connected nonprofit, and she is one of six Hubbard family members or affiliates associated with that organization.

A Street Named by the Woman Now Building On It

Jonas Hubbard Street runs through the Jonas Hubbard Estates subdivision in Carr Square, a name that traces back to Board Bill 76, which Tammika Hubbard sponsored in June 2018 while serving on the Board of Aldermen. According to City of St. Louis records, the ordinance officially designated both the subdivision and the street. The nonprofit tied to the parcel, Carr Square Tenant Management Corporation, is directed by Hubbard's father, Rodney Hubbard Sr., and reported $1.59 million in total revenue and $3.08 million in total assets on its fiscal year 2024 tax filing, per Cause IQ.

Hubbard lost her 5th Ward aldermanic seat in April 2021, when challenger James Page defeated her 52.5% to 47.1%, according to Ballotpedia. She had represented parts of downtown and North St. Louis since 2011, per the Post-Dispatch's reporting. That decade in office included co-sponsoring the Board of Aldermen's stadium financing bill, which passed 17-10 in 2015 alongside co-sponsor Jack Coatar, as well as sponsoring legislation expanding grant eligibility.

A Long-Running Fight Over Carr Square's Future

The Hubbard family's history in Carr Square includes a protracted dispute with developer McCormack Baron Salazar. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded a $29.5 million Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grant in December 2016 to revitalize Near North Side housing, but the initiative stalled for years amid conflict between the Hubbards and the developer over fees and control, as documented by the Post-Dispatch. Tammika Hubbard sponsored legislation to block construction permits tied to the project and later recused herself from a vote on the grant, according to the same reporting. McCormack Baron Salazar separately received a $10 million federal grant for apartment renovations on Cass Avenue near Tucker Boulevard, though that grant was later rescinded, a HUD spokesperson told the paper.

What Tax Abatements Mean for North City — and for Schools

Under St. Louis Development Corporation guidelines, real estate tax abatements freeze property assessments at pre-development levels for five to 10 years, provided applicants apply before construction begins and commit to new builds or major rehabs, according to the St. Louis Development Corporation. The city took a different approach in nearby Jeff-Vander-Lou and St. Louis Place in March 2024, when Ordinance 71795 empowered the Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority to grant 10-year abatements specifically to existing owner-occupants, aimed at encouraging upkeep without pushing out longtime residents.

Those incentives carry a real cost. A January 2024 report from Good Jobs First found that St. Louis Public Schools lost $31.7 million in tax revenue to property tax abatement programs in fiscal year 2022 alone — a 205% jump from $10.4 million foregone in 2017. Abatements approved specifically by the Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority accounted for $36.7 million of that lost school revenue between 2017 and 2022, per the same report. A separate 2017 analysis found that historically, nearly 70% of tax abatement dollars and 84% of TIF funds in the city flowed to the wealthier central corridor rather than distressed North St. Louis neighborhoods like Carr Square.

The Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority is a five-member public agency appointed by the mayor, holding statutory power under Missouri law to clear property liens, review redevelopment plans, and grant tax abatements in designated blighted areas, according to the City of St. Louis. Staff followed that standard process in recommending Hubbard's abatement, but the property's history — tied to a street she named, land that passed through her family's nonprofit, and a decade-old feud over who controls Carr Square's redevelopment — has renewed attention on how those incentives get distributed in North City.