NDC’s work with client community Cuyahoga County, Ohio, has brought a wide range of NDC’s signature services to the area, including the City of Cleveland and the surrounding suburban communities, beginning with the evaluation and negotiation of requests for development assistance – especially where the projects involve multiple public and private funding sources.
One of the County’s primary objectives in creating a partnership with NDC is to increase the knowledge and capacity of economic development professionals throughout the region, including its own staff. NDC’s Economic Development Finance Professional (EDFP) Certification is mandatory for all County community development personnel, ensuring a strong foundation for screening development proposals and for focusing NDC development assistance where it’s needed most. In the case of real estate development projects, NDC training supports staff in recognizing critical project cost and operating pro forma issues. With NDC on-site development assistance, these issues are distilled into questions and recommendations that help the developer improve the bankability of his or her project and reduce the need for the County’s limited gap financing resources.
NDC’s development assistance is always tailored to meet the specific strategies of the local community. In Cuyahoga County NDC’s efforts are being focused on helping County staff, local economic development professionals and private developers utilize tools such as New Markets Tax Credits (NMTCs) and HUD Section 108 loans to finance projects that will create jobs and encourage investment in local communities.
Where we’ve been:
- In 2007, NDC brought its NMTC allocation to a project in Cleveland’s Midtown corridor to close the financing gap for the historic rehabilitation of the Baker Electric Car Building into a multi-tenant, post-incubator building that’s creating new jobs near the Cleveland Clinic.
- NDC assisted Cuyahoga County in establishing a HUD Section 108 business loan program and tracking system that managed interest rates to create a future pool of funds for loan subsidies. To date, the loan pool has made over $5 million in loans.
- NDC assisted Cuyahoga County and City of Cleveland staff to structure public and private financing for a new retail plaza that broke ground in September 2009 and will retain and expand an existing grocery, attract a new branch bank and provide modern space and parking for restaurants and retailers in the underserved, low and moderate-income Union Miles neighborhood.
- In 2009, NDC aided the County in structuring NMTC financing for several critical projects and closed on a $20 million project to turn a former truck manufacturing site into a logistics and distribution hub for the Cleveland metro area: the Shoreway Commerce Park.
- To date, the Grow Cuyahoga County Fund, in partnership with NDC’s Grow America Fund, has financed over $4.1 million in project costs for everything from working capital to facility expansion for seven small businesses.
Where we’re going:
NDC is currently assisting the County in structuring HUD 108 financing, to support a $278 million mixed-use development in Cleveland’s Flats District and is advising on utilizing NMTCs, renewable energy tax credits and Department of Energy-sponsored loan guarantee programs to support the County’s goal to become a regional research and manufacturing hub for wind energy.