New Markets Tax Credit Case Study for 100 Prince

Project

100 Prince is a mixed-use development located in Athens, GA. Athens is well known as the home of the University of Georgia, and the college campus dominates the town. The size and scope of the University has led multifamily developers to ignore the private sector and focus on student housing. This focus resulted in a more than ten-year gap since the last non-student housing project was completed in the city limits. Limited supply has driven prices above the level of affordability for many employees of the University and other local employers. Moreover, the areas surrounding campus where the project is located, have suffered from retail and commercial space focused on student lifestyles and not working-class families, resulting in a food desert in downtown Athens.

100 Prince is a mixed-use development located in Athens, GA. Athens is well known as the home of the University of Georgia, and the college campus dominates the town. The size and scope of the University has led multifamily developers to ignore the private sector and focus on student housing. This focus resulted in a more than ten-year gap since the last non-student housing project was completed in the city limits. Limited supply has driven prices above the level of affordability for many employees of the University and other local employers. Moreover, the areas surrounding campus where the project is located, have suffered from retail and commercial space focused on student lifestyles and not working-class families, resulting in a food desert in downtown Athens.

Community Financing

With total project costs of $21.5 million, Homes Urban received $17.5 million in NMTC Allocation from ESIC New Markets Partners ($7.5 million) and HEDC New Markets ($10 million). Project debt was provided by United Community Bank, and Homes Urban provided sponsor equity. The project was originally intended as a market rate development, but the NMTC Allocation allowed Homes Urban to offer a reduced rent to the grocery, thereby enticing them to the Athens community, and also allowed Homes Urban to support the need for affordable housing with 10 rent restricted units. Without the subsidy provided by NMTCs, neither the grocery nor the affordable units would be possible.

“100 Prince was an opportunity for our team to bring affordable housing, grocery and local retail to an urban food desert which suffers from high rents and had not seen multi-family residential construction in over ten years. The project financing was complex, and without the New Markets Tax Credit subsidy, this project wouldn’t have gotten off the ground. Throughout the process, Cherry Bekaert’s strategic financing team was instrumental in arranging the NMTC sources and guiding our team along with myriad funders through to a successful closing.”
– Russ Davis, Jr., Principal, Homes Urban, LLC

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