Montana Community Development Corporation Enables Montana’s Second Big Building Project Using Federal New Markets Tax Credits

Use of a federal tax credit program to help fund major construction projects in low-income areas is taking hold in Montana. Montana Community Development Corporation’s (MCDC)http://www.mtcdc.org second New Markets Tax Credit project is underway in Bozeman. The $8.3 million dollar building project brings a much needed grocery store with low-cost groceries and great jobs to Bozeman’s Southside. The Federal Tax Credit funding is available for projects throughout Montana.

***

New Local, Low-Price Grocery and Commercial Project for Bozeman’s Southside

Town & Country Foods Inc. is building a second grocery store in Bozeman with the help of Big Sky Western Bank and a new federal tax credit tool now available in Montana through the Montana Community Development Corporation.

Construction is underway on a new grocery store for Bozeman’s Southside. Town and Country Foods Inc. (T&C) is renovating the vacant Campus Square movie theater on South 11th Avenue. The new building will house the low-cost grocery store and will provide additional retail and restaurant space in an area of town with few commercial services.

The Perlinski family opened T&C in 1967. They and the employee owners have wanted to bring their low-priced grocery store experience to Bozeman’s Southside for several years. The second store will expand its current product offerings of high quality produce, organic foods and other locally produced items with a larger deli, seating area, and wine cellar. T&C will continue the tradition of keeping grocery prices low through efficiencies of their unique operating methods.

After initial plans to start a second store were denied by the City Commission, T&C owners found a new opportunity in the South 11th location next to Montana State University. The location qualified for a federal tax credit program designed to bring economic stability to low-income areas. T&C learned about the New Markets Tax Credit Program through the Montana Community Development Corporation (MCDC), a Montana non-profit community lending institution, and Big Sky Western Bank. The three Montana businesses worked together to bring the federal tax credit financing to the project. “MCDC was excited to work with a locally-owned and well-respected business to bring this project to fruition. It will result in good jobs for the Southside and an enhancement to the convenience and quality of life for those in the community – these are hallmarks of the types of projects that we seek to help finance,” said Jeff Batton, Loan Officer for MCDC in Bozeman.

The New Markets Tax Credit program is a federal tax credit tool that provides incentives for private investment in building projects that help revitalize low-income areas. The program allows MCDC to sell federal tax credits to private investors in order to generate very low-cost financing for eligible building projects with high community impacts. In this case, Big Sky Western Bank stepped forward to provide the tax credit investment and the debt financing. "We are pleased to help bring a progressive and well-respected business like T&C to the Southside of Bozeman, where good jobs and a full-service grocery store were very much needed. MCDC and the federal tax credit program allowed us to say yes to a great business for our community." Big Sky Western Bank President, Ron Ostermiller.

The project’s ability to generate high-quality jobs and infrastructure improvements for this low-income neighborhood qualified it for the New Markets Tax Credit program. The new project will generate approximately 60 permanent full-time jobs with benefits, and 10 part-time jobs. The pre-development and construction phases will create another 100 temporary jobs. Total project costs are approximately $8.3 million.

The building project includes a new traffic light, new bike lanes, and improved sidewalks and streetscapes. The infrastructure improvements are designed to make it easy and pleasant to bike or walk to the store from the surrounding neighborhoods. The availability of a grocery in this neighborhood reduces overall traffic congestion by eliminating cross-town grocery trips.

Architect Leah Shute of Van Bryan Studio Architects of Bozeman says the building design includes other energy saving components such as reuse of many building materials including concrete and steel and efficient lighting practices including maximum use of natural light and high efficiency halogen lighting. The building also uses an innovative “heat reclaim” system. The system allows capture of the heat produced by the refrigeration systems in the store for use in the building’s air and hot water systems. Shute says the new building will renew the “life and energy of a dilapidating structure that had become an eyesore for the neighborhood.”

Town & Country Foods is on track to open the South 11th store in January 2010.

For more information on the New Markets Tax Credit Program or other business financing options in Bozeman, contact Jeff Batton, 406-219-3846 or go to MCDC’s website at http://www.mtcdc.org. Also visit Big Sky Western Bank’s website at http://www.bigskybank.com or call 406-587-2922.

For further information on this story contact:

Lynn Dankowski

Marketing Officer

MCDC (Montana Community Development Corporation)

Phone: 406-728-9234 #215

[email protected]

http://www.mtcdc.org

***

Dave Glaser

Vice President of Operations

MCDC (Montana Community Development Corporation)

Phone: 406-728-9234 #211

[email protected]

http://www.mtcdc.org