The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) announced last week that South Carolina Community Loan Fund (SCCLF) will receive $15 million in New Markets Tax Credits. SCCLF is one of only 76 organizations nationwide awarded tax credit allocations through the 2019 New Markets Tax Credit Program (NMTC Program) round and the only South Carolina-based allocatee.
NMTCs are allocated to organizations with proven success in community development finance. Last year, SCCLF successfully deployed its entire first NMTC allocation, totaling $20MM. The projects supported by the 2019 allocation included the TK Gregg Community Center in Spartanburg, and the Fairfield County Government Complex (at the former Mt. Zion Institute) in Winnsboro.
In addition to deploying tax credits, SCCLF provides financing, such as bridge loans or gap financing, to help bring large-scale projects to fruition. This was the case for FCGC, and this flexible approach to financing community facilities allows a transaction to become a partnership.
“Our partnership with SCCLF on the Mt Zion project was essential to getting the deal done. They worked with our team from the beginning and remained patient as we layered in several different sources of financing. Understanding the importance of this project to the Fairfield County community, SCCFL was willing to get creative to bring the project to close. The entire SCCLF team was a pleasure to work with and will be our first contact when we embark on our next SC venture.”-Rory Dowling,1st & MainFairfield County Government Complex Developer
For more information on the NMTC Program and SCCLF’s allocation, contact Brendan Buttimer, Community Development Loan Officer, at brendan@sccommunityloanfund.org.
