2010 Highlights
Goal 3: Economic Vitality
Statistics:
- 44 Million Square Feet of Retail & Community Space
- $550 Million New Markets Tax Credits Equity Invested
- 20,000 Jobs Created by New Markets Investments
Economic development creates jobs, enhances neighborhood safety and contributes to a vibrant environment of activity and growth. By creating opportunities for retailers and service providers, we help ensure that residents can shop for the goods and services they need in their own neighborhood. Successful local businesses help forestall blight and crime, and they reinforce investments in housing and other development efforts. They transform decaying commercial corridors into centers for arts and entertainment, and incubate innovation that ranges from micro-enterprises to retooled industrial sites.
LISC invests in projects and plans designed to support entrepreneurship, attract new businesses to disinvested areas and stimulate job creation in the places that need it most.
Verso Paper Mill
Verso Paper Corp., which operates four paper mills in the Northeast and upper Midwest that have been manufacturing paper products for more than a century, is using $17 million in New Markets Tax Credits from LISC to upgrade its equipment and facilities in Quinnesec, Michigan. Specifically, the financing will help install a new 28-megawatt (MW) steam turbine generator and upgrade an existing biomass boiler to increase energy production, improve energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gases. The new systems are expected to double the amount of electricity production from renewable biomass sources by 50 MW.
The project will also increase the long-term viability of the mill in rural Quinnesec, which is a critical economic driver for an area designated as a low-income community. The project will create 90 construction jobs and 50 new permanent jobs in the forest products industry, and will generate $6 million in new economic activity in the region to support the collection and transportation of biomass to operate the facility.
The project is supported by Northern Initiatives, a Rural LISC Partner CDC operating in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, which will provide small business lending and consultation services, along with training and technical assistance, to the new rural businesses that will be created as a result.
Clyde Park
Clyde Iron Works Restaurant and events facility is the latest phase of the new Clyde Park development in Duluth's Lincoln Park neighborhood. The adaptive reuse of a former ironworks manufacturing facility has become a popular destination for concerts, community celebrations, sports training, and special events. The redevelopment effort is Building Sustainable Communities with its far-reaching quality of life impact, including new jobs, near to other LISC investments in housing, educational and other community programs.
The new restaurant employs 90 area residents and includes an entertainment facility. The Clyde Park Campus includes the Duluth Heritage Sports Center - a year-round 1,200-seat hockey arena and a multi-use sports pavilion that converts from ice rink to turf, thanks to an investment by a LISC/NFL Youth Football Field grant. The Duluth Heritage Sport Center is also home to the 12,000 square-foot Boys and Girls Club, which includes a tutoring center, recreational space, and arts and crafts for local boys and girls. Clyde Park, which received $9.1 million in LISC New Markets Tax Credits, in addition to other LISC support, has become a popular destination that is attracting people, commerce and jobs to the Lincoln Park community.
Vernon Manor Hotel
The Vernon Manor Hotel is a landmark institution that has hosted such notable people such as President Lyndon B. Johnson and The Beatles during its years of operation since 1924…that is until last year when it had to close its doors, eliminating 100 jobs. LISC stepped in to help preserve this historic Cincinnati gem. We provided a $445,000 loan for state historic tax credits so that the building could be redeveloped into office space for the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
The project has allowed the hospital to expand, creating 600 new clinical and research jobs, in additions to jobs connected to the physical redevelopment. It is saving a piece of local history, and eliminating a vacant property that could have been a significant blighting influence. Indeed, it is a broad economic boost that is reinforcing other quality of life gains LISC is supporting throughout the area. More than just bricks and mortar, it is Building Sustainable Communities.
