San Ysidro will soon be home to a new Goodwill Industries outlet center, distribution center and community employment center thanks to a $12.6 million New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) investment made by Civic.
The funds will help Goodwill Industries improve two recently purchased buildings in San Ysidro totaling around 75,000 square feet. Those buildings will be repurposed for an outlet center and a distribution center. The NMTC investment will also fund the addition of a community employment center at the existing storefront in San Ysidro. Additionally, rooftop solar systems will be installed at both new locations plus three additional Goodwill facilities in San Diego and Chula Vista.
“We are very excited to partner with Goodwill Industries on this project,” said Reese A. Jarrett, president of Civic San Diego. “Employees and residents will benefit from a multitude of programs offered including employment placement services for young adults from low-income neighborhoods; help for low-income residents to transition to full-time employment; job training and placement for military veterans; and neighborhood retail services.”
Since 2012, Civic has invested more than $97 million into economically challenged San Diego neighborhoods through New Markets Tax Credits, a federal program established in 2000 that deploys tax credits for projects that create quality jobs, or provide programs or services, in disadvantaged communities. Projects must be located in or directly benefit a community within selected areas.
Civic has received four allocations of New Markets Tax Credit totaling $133 million from the United States Department of the Treasury. The program attracts investment capital to these communities by allowing corporations and individuals to receive a credit against their federal income taxes in exchange for making direct equity investments in entities such as Civic.
With the new Goodwill facilities, for instance, Civic provided $12.6 million in New Markets Tax Credits that were then purchased by Capital One to provide flexible financing to support the building and site improvements to open the new outlet store and employment center that will be a benefit to the San Ysidro community.
Civic is actively working to identify qualifying projects to receive this type of investment. In order to qualify, a project must be located in, or directly benefit, a low-income community by creating quality jobs, or providing goods or services to low-income persons. This form of financing is intended to provide no more than 20 percent of a project’s total cost, and is best suited for large capital projects of $8 million or more.
To present Civic with potential projects for New Markets Tax Credit funding, contact Michael Lengyel at lengyel@civiccommunities.com.
