Through a program that is nearly maxed out, downtown officials approved financial incentives Tuesday for another high-end apartment complex to be built in the city center.

The 290-unit project, proposed by national multifamily firm Fairfield Residential, is the latest rental complex to be accepted into the city's Downtown Living Initiative, a tax rebate program created to entice residential developers to build in the urban core.

The program is capped at 5,000 units, and the Fairfield project will leave room for perhaps two more developers to join the program.

"We're getting very close to that 5,000 cap," Ryan Leach, executive director of the Downtown Redevelopment Authority, said at the group's monthly board meeting Tuesday, where the project was approved. "We'll be tripling the population of downtown as far as residents go."

More than a dozen developers have been approved for the incentive program since it started in 2012. Last spring, the City Council doubled the number of units in the cap from the initial 2,500. Whether they all will get built is another matter.

"Ultimately, the value of the incentive is only a tiny fraction of the real cost of the project," said Bob Eury, the authority's president. "Because you have this incentive does not necessarily mean you're going to go forward."

At least four projects are under construction, and one was recently completed.

The program offers up to $15,000 for each unit a developer builds in a multifamily complex of at least 10 units. The property also must meet certain design guidelines. The new Fairfield project could amount to nearly $4.4 million in rebates.

Reimbursement payments to the developer begin after the first tax year once the project has opened, Eury said. They are computed on the incremental increase of taxable value above the 2012 base value.

Qualifying projects receive a reimbursement of the lesser of $15,000 per unit or what amounts to 75 percent of the incremental property tax and the Houston Downtown Management District incremental assessment paid per unit over 15 years from the project's completion.

In order to receive the reimbursement, the developers have one year from the date they sign the incentive agreement to get the project into the city permitting department, after which time they have three years to get a certificate of occupancy.

The Fairfield project is planned for a downtown site bounded by Main, Jefferson, St. Joseph and Travis, with its address being 902 Jefferson. The property is now a parking lot.

The average unit will be 880 square feet and the first floor along Main will have live/work units, a cafe and fitness center, according to materials the developer submitted to the redevelopment authority. An official from the company could not be reached Tuesday for comment.

Renderings show the 10-story building with recessed balconies and a mix of brick, stucco, wood and metal materials on the exterior.

With the new complex, 4,489 units have been approved for the Downtown Living Initiative.

The program was modeled after a similar one in Washington, D.C., to attract developers to the NoMa neighborhood.

Once the cap is reached, no new projects will be accepted, Eury said.

"It's time to be patient and let these projects have a chance to get going and move forward," he said.