Clocktower has once again secured a state low-income housing tax credit investor for The Community Builders; this time for the Merrick at the Square project currently under construction in Worcester, MA.  This brand-new LEED certified 49-unit development will help fill the housing gap by offering additional affordable housing to the area, which is currently in very short supply.  The complex is designed to meet the Enterprise Green Communities standards which features many of the latest technologies such as on-site stormwater management, solar power generation, dedicated space for electric vehicles and bicycles, as well as providing tenants with access to various outdoor spaces.

While The Community Builders and Clocktower both have operations throughout the country, Massachusetts is home base to both firms, and we take great pride in our role in securing tax credit equity so these wonderful projects can continue to be built.  Watching the gentrification of these cities and towns in our backyard is very fulfilling; these projects require complex financial structures, and Clocktower is thrilled to be part of the solution.

Clocktower continues to support the many communities throughout the Commonwealth, by providing first-in-class tax credit placement.  If you are currently developing a low-income multi-family project and/or refurbishing old historic buildings that will generate tax credits, Clocktower should be atop your list of companies to call.  With decades of experience in the real estate sector, we look forward to putting our expertise to work for you and make those plans become reality.  Contact our Senior Associate, Dave Auster at (978) 793-6600, or by email at DAuster@ClocktowerTC.com.

Last month, Senior Associate David Curtis attended Evergreen Real Estate Group’s ribbon cutting celebrating the completion of the Bellwood Senior Apartments.  The project creates 76 one-bedroom and 4 two-bedroom units of affordable housing for seniors age 62 or older in Bellwood, a western suburb of Chicago.  The development also boasts amenities including an exercise room, community room, and outdoor balconies, fostering a vibrant and connected living environment for residents. Evergreen also ensured sustainability and energy efficiency for the project, incorporating features such as LED lighting and high-performance windows.

Bellwood Senior Apartments serves as an important catalyst for the Bellwood community, as it replaces a former Walgreens convenience store that had sat vacant for over five years and now creates a home for local seniors who would be subject to displacement from their hometown.  “Our seniors are the backbone of our community and I have made them a major priority of my administration,” said Bellwood Mayor Andre F. Harvey. “Providing them with a beautiful home in which to live their golden years is vital.  It is truly amazing how far we have come in slightly over three years with the opening of the magnificent Bellwood Senior Apartments.  The dream team we assembled to make this possible all deserve a major thank you for turning this idea into reality in the midst of a world-wide pandemic.”  Clocktower provided the Illinois Affordable Housing Tax Credit equity for the project, and we continue to be very proud to support Evergreen’s impactful vision to provide high quality affordable housing across Illinois.

Clocktower is ready to help all Illinois developers looking to create housing for senior tenants, and has the breadth of experience to navigate all complexities for state tax credits generated by socially-impactful projects for seniors across the state.  If there are any questions or similar projects seeking a tax credit equity source or a path for tax credit eligibility, please reach out to David Curtis at (978) 440-0742, or email him at DCurtis@ClocktowerTC.com. 

Clocktower Tax Credits, LLC, is a national broker of State and Federal Tax Credit incentives.  We service the Real Estate, Renewable Energy, and Film/Digital Media industries, as well as the more general area of Economic Development incentives.  These programs are designed to provide necessary financing to fill the money gap to complete necessary, important, and exciting projects nationwide.  The great news is that these programs are expanding, turning more of these projects into realities.

An analysis by Novogradac & Company LLP (January 2, 2024) identified four states that created new tax incentives for Affordable Housing in 2023, as well as two states that legislated new Historic Building Rehabilitation tax credits.  By year’s end, the study totaled 30 states that provided state-level tax credit subsidies for affordable housing, 38 states that offered Historic tax credits, and 13 states where New Market Tax Credits were offered.  Only eight states offered no tax credit incentives to developers of such projects.  Research shows that many more development projects are completed in states that offer such tax incentives than in those states lacking such programs.

In the domestic Film/Digital Media industry, there are now 38 states that offer financial incentives to film and produce movies, television, websites and other digital media within their borders.  While some programs have been trimmed, more states have created or increased incentive programs, with either transferable or refundable tax credits.  With the writers’ and actors’ strikes over and post-pandemic production activity surging, these financial incentives are the key to turning so many locations across the country into “Little Hollywoods”.

Finally, in the Renewable Energy industry, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 has created all the incentive necessary to spur hundreds of billions of dollars of new projects and products.  The amount of tax credit issued to a project has leaped from about 22% of project cost to 30%, 40%, and even up to 60% in certain cases.  And most importantly, the creation of a transferable tax credit, which no longer requires investors to enter into complex, multi-year partnerships in order to save on their taxes, will attract perhaps $100 billion in investment in 2024.  State incentives are not needed here!

So 2024 portends to be a very exciting year for developers, producers, and investors in tax credit projects, with so many state governments joining with the Federal Treasury to stimulate the private activity in Real Estate, Film, and Renewable Energy.  Clocktower Tax Credits helps put these projects together.  To schedule a meeting with any Clocktower associate, or a phone call or Zoom session, please call President Jeff Jacobson at (978) 823-0200, or email him at JJacobson@ClocktowerTC.com.

Congratulations are due for Mercy Housing Lakefront for their development of the Carlton Terrace Apartments in Chicago.  The project received mention in the 2023 Novogradac Historic Rehabilitation Awards as a historic tax credit development that best exemplifies major community impact.  The rehabilitation comprised the adaptive reuse of the former Carlton Terrace Hotel, which had been vacant and was transformed by Mercy into 68 units of permanent supportive housing.  The project now is a valuable resource for those who need it most in the North Side neighborhood of Uptown.

This continues Mercy’s success preserving historic building stock for affordable housing across Chicago. Mercy was also the recipient of a Novogradac Historic Tax Credit award in 2022 for its Major Jenkins Apartments, the rehabilitation of two adjacent buildings into 156 units of housing for survivors of homelessness, also in the Uptown neighborhood.  Clocktower sourced the Illinois Affordable Housing Tax Credit equity for both projects, providing crucial funding to support the construction process.  We congratulate the entire Mercy Housing Lakefront team for creating impactful developments without compromising the historic character of the buildings!

Clocktower is ready to help all Illinois developers looking to preserve historic building stock while creating affordable housing in the space, using both Low-Income Housing and Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits to provide much-needed funding sources.  If there are any questions or similar projects seeking a tax credit equity source or a path for tax credit eligibility, please reach out to David Curtis at (978) 440-0742, or email him at DCurtis@ClocktowerTC.com. 

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike has come to an end, bringing relief to the entertainment industry as a whole, and hope that the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) will soon reach a similar resolution. The concurrent strikes have not only placed a number of television shows and film productions on hold but have also led to the cancellation of some projects, resulting in substantial disruptions throughout the industry. This has had a profound impact on individuals whose livelihoods depend on production work, with some of them spending the last five months picketing outside of major studios. The conclusion of these negotiations and the reaching of a mutually beneficial deal represents a significant milestone in the ongoing conversation surrounding workers’ rights within the industry.

With the shift in entertainment towards streaming platforms and with the lack of information around artificial intelligence (AI), the WGA sought to safeguard and further the rights of writers. Some of these concerns were around compensation, including residuals and streaming royalties. Other concerns included minimum staffing for writers’ rooms and the threat of AI generated material. With this resolution, there is an acknowledgement that writers are the backbone of any story, they are responsible for all the shows and films that captivate audiences worldwide, and these stories cannot be artificially generated.

The entertainment world celebrates the conclusion of the WGA strike and looks forward to a potential resolution of the SAG strike. With a more equitable contract in place, writers and studios can resume work on beloved shows and bring fresh ideas to the big screen. This resolution not only establishes a precedent for future negotiations but also reinforces the indispensable role that writers play in the filmmaking process.

Clocktower Tax Credits is thrilled for both the writers and the broader entertainment industry on this resolution. Our network of buyers is eager to acquire tax credits generated from the expected surge in productions as people return to work. If you are working on a production and are interested in selling its tax credit, don’t hesitate to call us. Clocktower works with producers/filmmakers all across the country and we’d love to work with you as well. For inquiries, please contact Haley Ricker at (978) 793-6694 or HRicker@ClockTowerTC.com.