New Market Tax Credit Benefits
The New Market Tax Credit (NMTC) Program incentivizes community development and economic growth by using tax credits that attract private investment to distressed communities.
According to Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, low-income communities, have historically, experienced a lack of investment, as evidenced by vacant commercial properties, outdated manufacturing facilities, and inadequate access to education and healthcare service providers. The New Market Tax Credit Program (NMTC) aims to break this cycle of disinvestment by attracting the private investment necessary to reinvigorate struggling local economies.
The NMTC Program attracts private capital into low-income communities by permitting individual and corporate investors to receive a tax credit against their federal income tax in exchange for making equity investments in specialized financial intermediaries called Community Development Entities (CDE). The credit totals 39% of the original investment amount and is claimed over a period of seven years.
Press Release: US Treasury Announces New Markets Credit Awards- October 28, 2022
How it Works:
- Tax credits awarded by the US Department of Treasury to CDE.
- Colorado Enterprise Fund works as a CDE, with investors, typically large banks, to provide funding towards the project.
- Investors are awarded credits against their federal tax obligations.
- Investors lend capital to businesses, developers, or non-profits at preferential rates and terms to complete the project.
Types of NMTC projects include:
- Manufacturing
- Hospitality
- Community Services
- Retail
- Healthy Food Access
- Technology
Criteria for NMTC projects:
- Project will create quality jobs.
- Project will impact the community via development, economic growth, or positive environmental impact.
- Priority is given to projects located in underserved or distressed communities.
- Community poverty rate exceeds 20% or median family income is below 80% of state median income.
To date, CEF has allocated $45 M in NMTC to the Colorado businesses below.
Hotel St. Cloud (2022)
Hotel St. Cloud will serve as a catalyst to help revitalize downtown Canon City and bolster the local economy. This project along with other revitalization efforts will create quality, living wage jobs to ensure a diverse economic base, a resilient and growing tax base, and long-term economic vitality for local businesses.
Unbridled, an event management company in Colorado, purchased Hotel St. Cloud in 2018. With the help of many private and public parties, including a $3 million Community Revitalization Grant from the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) and a New Market Tax Credit financing of $9 million from Colorado Enterprise Fund, this $15 million project will break ground November 2022.
Hotel St. Cloud is located in Canon City which is an area with a 14.6% unemployment rate, 34.8% poverty rate, and a 51.5% median family income. Unbridled used a NMTC to:
- Renovate a 26,000 sf 19th-century historic structure to include a bar, three restaurants, and a boutique hotel.
Benefits of the project to the community:
- Create 59 full-time temporary construction jobs (80% expected to be filled by Targeted Job Seekers*)
- Create 39 full-time permanent jobs in the hospitality industry (93% expected to be filled by Targeted Job Seekers*)
- Increase tourism and hospitality to bolster the local economy
*Targeted Job Seekers = low-income person, resident of a low-income community, person with lower levels of education, or person that faces barriers to employment.
Clifton Community Resource Campus (2022)
Clifton Community Resource Campus is a 20-acre development in Mesa County being constructed to address several needs in the community, notably the severe shortage of childcare and early childhood education (ECE) services. Mesa County is considered a childcare desert and has only enough licensed childcare providers to serve 20% of children ages 0-5. This new community resource campus is located in a distressed area with a 29% poverty rate, a 15.9% unemployment rate, and a family median income of 51.8%. The NMTC loan is being used to:
- Create a community resource campus to include a 22,690 square-foot ECE center, an 11,944 square-foot ECE training hub, and an 11,970 square-foot gymnasium with space for community events.
Benefits of the project to the community:
- Create approximately 73 temporary jobs (100% expected to be filled by Targeted Job Seekers*)
- Create 59 permanent jobs (87% expected to be filled by Targeted Job Seekers*)
- The new ECE center will provide 154 early childhood education seats of which 95% are expected to be filled by low-income persons or residents of low-income communities.
- The ECE training hub will help create a pipeline of licensed ECE service providers.
*Targeted Job Seekers = low-income person, resident of a low-income community, person with lower levels of education, or person that faces barriers to employment.
indieDwell Colorado (2021)
indieDwell Colorado is a 501c3 nonprofit organization based in Pueblo that seeks to change the building industry by offering high-quality, durable, sustainable, energy-efficient homes to underserved communities. The facility is located in a distressed area with a 21.2% unemployment rate, a median family income of 35.9%, and a 44.8% poverty rate. indieDwell Colorado used an NMTC loan to:
- Finance a portion of its operating expenses for two production lines being added at the facility to keep up with demand for affordable housing modular units.
Benefits of the project to the community:
- Retained 58 permanent jobs
- Created 113 permanent jobs
- 86% of permanent positions filled by Targeted Job Seekers*
*Targeted Job Seekers = low-income person, resident of a low-income community, person with lower levels of education, or person that faces barriers to employment.
TruStile Doors (2020)
TruStile Doors is based in Denver and manufactures interior and exterior doors for residential and commercial uses. The facility is located in an area with 15.7% unemployment and a median family income of 48.4%. TruStile used an NMTC loan to:
- Remove environmental contaminants in the site's soil
- Build a 260,000 sf manufacturing, warehouse, and office facility
- Install a 1.5 megawatt photovoltaic roof-mounted solar array
- Install a biomass boiler system that utilizes sawdust waste to heat and cool the facility
- Purchase and install equipment to increase production
Benefits of the project to the community:
- Created 825 construction jobs (80% filled by Targeted Job Seekers*)
- Retained 300 permanent jobs and created 200 permanent jobs (84% filled by Targeted Job Seekers*)
- Added environmental systems are estimated to reduce carbon emissions by 22,000 tons annually and eliminates the transportation of 650 tons of waste monthly.
*Targeted Job Seekers = low-income person, resident of a low-income community, person with lower levels of education, or person that faces barriers to employment.