CrescentCare and JPMorgan Chase, which contributed to the redevelopment with a federal HTC equity investment, have a long history dating back to the nonprofit’s earliest days. This new, expanded facility provides CrescentCare with the foundation to increase supportive services and uplift the community’s residents, said Tim Karp, head of historic tax credit at JPMorgan Chase.
“In real estate, it’s important for a nonprofit such as CrescentCare to control their own destiny by owning their building,” Karp said. “When you have an impactful, nonprofit organization that works with a low-income population, it takes on an even greater importance.”
Construction began in January. Riener said the long-term expansion hopes to boost the size of the operation, but will seek first to sustain the quality of care it provides patients.
Riener said the most complicated element of the redevelopment was taking care to remain complaint with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards to maintain the windows in a historic building.
Gulf Coast Housing Partnership (GCHP) served as project manager for the endeavor in addition to providing a $9 million NMTC allocation. Their president and CEO, Kathy Laborde, said securing insurance along with climbing interest rates and construction costs were the biggest challenges for the endeavor.
Financing
Total development costs for the endeavor are $21.6 million. Woodward Design+Build is the general contractor. New Orleans-based Rozas-Ward served as architects.
The effort received $4.4 million in federal and state HTC equity, with Chase investing in the federal HTCs and Stonehenge Capital providing the state HTC equity.
On the NMTC side, in addition to GCHP’s $9 million allocation, Hope Enterprise Corporation provided $6 million in allocation. Capital One provided a $5 million allocation and also invested in the NMTC equity, a $6.2 million investment.
Could the redevelopment have happened without tax credits?
“No way,” said Kathy Laborde, president and CEO of Gulf Coast Housing Partnership. “This is a $22 million project and there is not a debt-and-owner combination that would have enabled CrescentCare to move forward without the equity generated through the tax credits to help fill the financing gap.”
Karp said he and JPMorgan Chase are excited to see the ripple effect CrescentCare’s new facility has in MidCity New Orleans.
“Any time you reactivate a building, even if it’s not vacant, we find the community is often reenergized by seeing a new space, new landscaping and ultimately the new opportunity it brings,” Karp said. “We see this over and over when supporting HTC projects as we’re preserving an important part of the social fabric of the community.”
The opportunities available to CrescentCare have all involved looking forward to the future.
“Being able to expand access to community, to have a place that’s designed and built for the people we serve and our staff, is really exciting,” Riener said.
CrescentCare plans to open the new facility in early 2024.
Adapted with permission from “New Orleans’ CrescentCare Uses HTCs, NMTCs to Find Bigger Footprint in the Big Easy,” Nick DeCicco, Novogradac Journal of Tax Credits
JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. Member FDIC. Visit jpmorgan.com/cb-disclaimer for disclosures and disclaimers related to this content.
Source: jpmorgan.com
