AeroFarms
New Markets Tax Credits in the News
December 15, 2021
The New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) Program is a federal financial program developed by the United States Department of the Treasury to incentivize community development using federal tax credits allocated by private investors in disadvantaged and distressed communities. In this biweekly blog, LifeCity will discuss key developments related to the NMTC Program.
This week, we discuss four ongoing projects that are being funded in part by New Market Tax Credits.
Projects
The world’s largest aeroponic farm, funded in part by NMTCs, was recently sold for an impressive $21 million. AeroFarms is a sustainable agriculture company headquartered in Newark, New Jersey. The headquarters site started out as a former manufacturing facility that was considered to be a brownfield, or potentially contaminated and undesirable land. The transformation of the land has reached a milestone with this sale announced by RBH Group LLC, a social impact real estate developer. The farm was funded by $30 million in NMTCs, and has created over 200 jobs in the local economy.
The Montbello neighborhood of Denver has a diverse population that is working together to address the issues that affect their community. The Montbello Organizing Committee (MOC) is speaking up about struggles with high unemployment rates, food insecurity, and the potential for future gentrification. MOC collaborated with FreshLo, a neighborhood revitalization initiative, to bring a FreshLo hub to the neighborhood. The hub will include a grocery store, walking trail, cultural art space, retail space, and affordable housing. The project is being funded in part by NMTC investors, and will begin construction next year.
GO Lab Inc., a startup based in Belfast, Maine, is using NMTCs to fund its revitalization of a previously closed paper mill. GO Lab is dedicated to producing wood fiber insulation products, which are sustainable and nontoxic. The organization plans to take over a previously shuttered paper mill in Madison, Maine and hire 120 workers to carry out operations.
In Hudson, New York, a vacant community theater that has housed everything from a movie theater to an antiques market is being revamped and renamed as the Hudson Forum. The current owners of the property, the Galvan Foundation, have secured NMTCs to help fund this transformation. This theater will host a variety of arts events for the community to enjoy and help boost the economy after the negative economic impacts of the pandemic.
These inspiring projects and more are underway across the US. LifeCity specializes in impact assessments and third-party validation services for CDEs engaged in NMTC-financed projects. As a third-party, we help CDEs and other companies measure, manage, track, and report their impact to ensure a credible and transparent message. Our services are available across all stages of the NMTC allocation process and provide personalized impact reports and videos that support clients, projects, and communities.