Clocktower Tax Credits, LLC assisted the Brewster and Mary Hosmer Apartment rehabilitations in Freeport, Illinois.  The two buildings closed financing simultaneously at the end of 2016, and are scheduled to be re-opened to tenants after a 12-month construction period.  Once finished, the two buildings will combine to improve 167 units of affordable rental housing in northern Illinois.  The two towers were originally built in 1965 and 1971, respectively, and were in dire need of upgrades to the apartments and common area facilities for its low-income tenants.  The rehabilitations included kitchen layout reconfigurations, new cabinets, fixtures, flooring, tenant storage areas, fire code and disability compliance upgrades, and structural modernizations.

The project received numerous incentives from the Illinois Housing Development Authority, including Federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, Illinois Affordable Housing Tax Credits, Tax Exempt Bonds, and a Risk Share Loan, to incentivize private developers to conduct the rehabilitations.  Through our past experience in working with Brinshore Development, L.L.C., a real estate development firm working in the market-rate and affordable spheres in the Midwest, Clocktower helped the project by monetizing $3,600,000 in Illinois tax credits through a Fortune 500 company, providing millions of dollars of equity that ultimately bettered the Freeport community.

Clocktower has worked with over a dozen Affordable Housing developments over the past three years, and has brokered over fifty million dollars of both Federal and State Low-Income Tax Credits to low-income Housing projects nationwide in our firm’s history.  We understand the deadlines and program specifics of all State and Federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit programs, and assist developments in their Tax Credit equity closing process.  Our expertise in sourcing either equity partners for non-transferrable Tax Credits or buyers for certificated transferrable Tax Credits has afforded us the opportunity to help community-oriented projects of all kinds.

The report can be viewed online at http://www.journalstandard.com/news/20170224/freeport-housing-authoritys-brewster-and-hosmer-20m-apartment-renovations-underway.  For more information, please contact David Curtis at (978) 440-0742 or DCurtis@clocktowertc.com.

Clocktower Tax Credits is proud to help finance projects that make a significant impact on a community.  One in particular is Howard House, a historic renovation and adaptive re-use of the former Howard Home located on the Brockton VA Medical Center in Brockton, MA.  Clocktower brokered the sale of $1,000,000 in Massachusetts Historic Rehabilitation tax credits, providing equity necessary to finance this important project.

The home was transformed into a permanent supportive housing community for formerly homeless Veterans.  The residence features fourteen, fully furnished efficiency apartments along with community space.  Supportive services will be available to residents to increase their economic self-sufficiency and well-being.  Veterans who want to stay at the Howard House sign a lease and pay 30% of their income for rent, receiving subsidies for the balance.  The residents are welcome to stay there as long as it’s beneficial to their well-being.

The project is one in a series of developments initiated by the US Veterans Administration to use the campus of VA Hospitals nationwide to provide housing at the same location where there is a Veterans healthcare facility.  The former Howard Home for the Aged provided a natural opportunity to convert this underutilized office facility into much needed housing, giving residents easy access to services and medical care.  The VA and its partners have made a major effort over the past five years to end homelessness for Veterans and as a result, they have reduced the number of homeless Veterans by half.

This project is the result of a successful public private partnership in Massachusetts to create affordable housing for Veterans.  Kudos to the developers who made this project happen: Affordable Housing and Services Collaborative, Inc., Peabody Properties, Inc. and Windover Construction, LLC.

For more information, please contact Sue Ellyn Idelson at (978) 793-9574 or Sidelson@clocktowertc.com.