LISC Wins $140 Million In "New Markets" Investment Authority
3 Jun 2006 - New York, NY
Represents largest award to nonprofit in fourth round of NMTC allocations
The U.S. Treasury Department has awarded Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) New Markets Tax Credits (NMTCs) that will generate $140 million in investments to help spur economic development in disinvested communities across the country. The LISC allocation is the third-largest among the 63 awards announced today, and the largest made to any nonprofit participating in this year's $4.1 billion round of credits.
"This New Markets award builds on the $7 billion LISC has already invested in to low- and moderate-income neighborhoods over the last 25 years," noted Michael Rubinger, LISC's president and CEO. LISC expects to make an additional $1 billion in community-focused grants, loans and equity investments in 2006.
"We have already deployed most of the $155 million we raised from our previous NMTC allocations to support the development of more than 1.1 million square feet of commercial space, 130 new homes and 5,200 jobs that otherwise would not exist," Rubinger explained. "We're pretty proud of those numbers, and we are thrilled that the Treasury Department sees the value of our expanded involvement in this important program."
NMTCs—which were first allocated in 2002—have already proven themselves to be a highly efficient means of attracting additional private capital to community revitalization efforts, and represent a growing piece of the 27 million square feet of retail and community space LISC has financed over the years.
"Our funders and investors have been very supportive of the innovative NMTC projects on which we are focused," said Rubinger. Specifically, LISC has closed on 15 NMTC projects to date, ranging from the redevelopment of a historic Buffalo church into gallery/office/performance space, to the financing of a motorcycle parts manufacturer in rural Wisconsin, to the construction of a senior community center and new commercial space in Seattle's historic Pike Place Market.
"The Seattle project illustrates how well NMTCs can be integrated with other funding programs to underpin high-impact development efforts," Rubinger continued. In this case, the Pike Place commercial and community space is part of an ambitious initiative that also includes affordable senior apartments financed in part with Low-Income Housing Tax Credits syndicated by the LISC affiliate, National Equity Fund (NEF). NEF also administers LISC's NMTC program.
"LISC and NEF have always been about innovation, about making sure private capital makes its way to the projects and the communities that need it most," said Joseph S. Hagan, NEF president. "The scale of this new NMTC allocation is a clear endorsement of our focus on projects that are both financially sound and have a significant, lasting impact on the communities in which they are built."