Enterprise to Use $95M Recovery Act Allocation as Catalyst for Green Development, Job Creation

Columbia, Md.–Through its subsidiary, ESIC New Markets Partners LP, Enterprise Community Investment Inc. received $95 million in New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund. Enterprise is one of 32 Community Development Entities (CDEs) receiving an allocation of the $1.5 billion in NMTC awards as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. This new allocation brings Enterprise’s total NMTC awards to $610 million, $515 million of which has previously been invested in low-income communities nationwide.Enterprise will dedicate its allocation to the creation of the Enterprise Green Communities New Markets Tax Credit Program.“Enterprise’s work in green affordable housing through our Green Communities initiative is now extended to commercial development projects that create jobs, provide critical services and stimulate growth in distressed neighborhoods on an environmentally sustainable basis,” says Joe Wesolowski, senior vice president for structured finance, Enterprise Community Investment. Under the Enterprise Green Communities New Markets Tax Credit Program, Enterprise will prioritize environmentally sustainable developments in utilizing its NMTC allocation. These will include developments that incorporate energy efficiency and renewable energy and healthy building techniques as well as transit-oriented development and brownfield reclamation developments across the country. The program will provide tax credit financing and technical services to ensure developments achieve significant economic, health and environmental benefits as measured against current nationally recognized green building standards, including the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System and the Green Communities Criteria for affordable housing. According to the U.S. Treasury Department, to date, nearly $12 billion in private-sector capital has been invested through the NMTC program into urban and rural communities nationwide.