Stonehenge Community Capital LLC—the community development arm of Baton Rouge-based Stonehenge Capital—been awarded $25 million in New Markets Tax Credits, the U.S. Treasury Department announced today. Stonehenge will use its allocation to invest in small business and community service nonprofits that are located in highly distressed areas, have significant minority impacts and create quality new jobs.
Since 2000, the Treasury Department has awarded some $40 billion in New Markets Tax Credits to community development organizations around the country, which invest the dollars in worthy projects and take a fee off the top for administering the program. Stonehenge Capital, a finance company that specializes in tax credits, has alone received more than $575 million of those credits, including the latest award.
Though based in Baton Rouge, Stonehenge invests in projects all over the U.S., including existing businesses and real estate, which is one reason experts say the firm has been so successful in obtaining the awards.
The credits announced for Stonehenge today are a part of more than $3.5 billion awarded to 76 organizations across the country, aimed at stimulating investment and economic growth in low-income urban neighborhoods and rural communities nationwide.
Several New Orleans-based community development entities also were awarded NMTC in the latest round of allocations. However, the East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority was not awarded any credits yet again, marking the fourth year in a row that the agency has not received any NMTC allocations.
