Housing Vermont

Housing Vermont drew upon its allocation of federal New Markets Tax Credits to provide a key piece of financing for DEW Construction Corporation’s new 32,000 square-foot building in downtown Rutland for use by the Community College of Vermont.

 

US Bank has invested nearly $2.3 million in an affiliate of Housing Vermont which made a qualified low income community investment in an affiliate of DEW which will own the building. The DEW affiliate will construct, fit up and operate the new commercial facility that will be leased to Vermont State Colleges for the Community College of Vermont. The developer will also use Recovery Zone Facility Bonds issued through the Vermont Economic Development Authority and purchased by the Mascoma Savings Bank.

 

The $8.3 million project will revitalize the busy intersection at Wales Street and West Street (Route 4) on one of the main roads leading into the central part of the City of Rutland. The project will involve removing several buildings, some of which are abandoned and in disrepair, and clean up a state high-priority brownfield site.

 

CCV’s Rutland location, the fastest growing site in the system, has been unable to meet the demand for classes due to the lack of space at its current facility. Over 1,000 students a week pass through the doors of CCV.

 

The DEW-CCV project marks HV’s second NMTC investment. In December 2010, Housing Vermont invested $10 million in Weidmann Electrical Technology’s expansion of its St. Johnsbury production facility. That plant manufactures electrical insulation material for transformers.  The product produced in the St. Johnsbury plant accounts for roughly 75% of all power transformers in North America.

 

In addition to the purchase of equipment, a portion of the Weidmann investment will enable Northern Community Investment Corporation to establish a screening and training program for machine shop operation.

 

The US Treasury Department awarded $30 million in New Markets Tax Credits to HV in 2009 when the program was expanded through the work of Senator Patrick Leahy. HV uses its NMTC resources to support investment in the economic, environmental, and social well-being of Vermont communities.

 

Prospective NMTC projects generally need to be located in qualified census tracts. In Vermont those areas include much of northern Franklin, Grand Isle, Lamoille, Essex and Orleans counties as well as parts of the towns and cities of St. Albans, Rutland, Bennington, Fair Haven, Burlington, Winooski, Newport, St. Johnsbury and Brattleboro.