CHICAGO—IFF, a Chicago-based nonprofit lender and real estate consultant, just received a $43 million New Markets Tax Credit allocation, its largest allocation ever and its third since the federal program kicked off the more than a decade ago.
This year, the US Treasury Department awarded a total of $3.5 billion in tax credits to 87 organizations across the country. The program was designed to attract investment to low-income communities by allowing investors to receive a federal tax credit for making equity investments in Community Development Entities such as IFF.
The new allocation “will go to multiple projects,” Tanya Vartivarian, IFF's senior director for structured finance, tells GlobeSt.com. “We have been vetting a variety of projects in our pipeline,” and will choose which ones benefit from these credits by the end of the year. IFF will give special weight to developments that advance its mission to create jobs, promote healthcare access, eliminate “food deserts,” or bring educational opportunities through charter schools, among other goals.
In 2002 and 2011, IFF received $10 million and $25 million, respectively, in NMTCs to support community development projects. IFF used the 2011 allocation to help develop the Erie Elementary Charter School and the LEARN Charter School Network in Chicago, and two other schools in Kansas City.
Since it was founded in 1988, IFF has made more than 1,100 loans to nonprofits, providing $450 million in low-cost financing and leveraging $1.4 billion in total community investment.
“The New Markets Tax Credit is definitely a program that is increasingly being used as a way to attract investment in low-income communities,” Vartivarian adds. “Our pipeline is usually oversubscribed. The demand far outstrips the supply.”
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
*May exclude premium content© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Brian J. Rogal
Brian J. Rogal is a Chicago-based freelance writer with years of experience as an investigative reporter and editor, most notably at The Chicago Reporter, where he concentrated on housing issues. He also has written extensively on alternative energy and the payments card industry for national trade publications.
