MassDevelopment Secures $21 Million in Federal Tax Credits to Encourage Private Investment in Distressed Communities

February 24, 2011

Contact:
Kelsey Abbruzzese, MassDevelopment, 617-330-2086 & 617-448-9077 (cell)

The U.S. Treasury Department has allocated $21 million of New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) to MassDevelopment that will allow the agency to leverage tax credit equity from investors, offering low-cost financing to businesses and nonprofits in eligible census tracts.

MassDevelopment was one of 250 applicants competing for $3.5 billion in tax credit allocations. Of these applicants, 99 were successful nationwide, and MassDevelopment was one of only four recipients in Massachusetts.

“MassDevelopment has used New Markets Tax Credits, which have funded everything from community health centers to international hostels, to support organizations in distressed communities throughout Massachusetts,” said MassDevelopment President and CEO Robert L. Culver. “A variety of businesses, nonprofits, and other institutions have leveraged the funds for construction and renovation. Washington’s continued faith in MassDevelopment allows us to supply this financing.”

As of October 2010, the U.S. Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, which administers the program, has made 495 awards, totaling $26 billion in tax credit allocation authority. MassDevelopment has received three prior NMTC allocations, which totaled $155 million. Since 2004, MassDevelopment has used its allocation to fund major redevelopment projects at Boston Medical Center, Lynn Community Health Center, and the Coalition for Buzzards Bay in New Bedford, and to create a $30 million, first-in-New-England New Markets Loan Fund that drew on capital from partnerships with Citizens and Sovereign Banks.

MassDevelopment, the state’s finance and development authority, works with businesses, financial institutions, and communities to stimulate economic growth across the Commonwealth. During FY2010, MassDevelopment financed or managed 238 projects in 104 communities across the state generating investment of nearly $1.4 billion in the Massachusetts economy.