Glenn Petherick Author Archives

Historic tax credit industry participants have welcomed and praised the new IRS safe harbor guidance and are optimistic that it will eventually restore a healthy flow of equity investment capital for new projects. But they suggested it will be a number of weeks before the spigot turns on fully because of ambiguous or challenging parts of the guidance that need to be clarified or addressed and until investors, developers, and practitioners come to consensus on acceptable features of partnership structures for new deals.

Back in my freshman year at Syracuse University, I survived one of my toughest learning challenges – calculus class on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings at 8. That barely edged out my class in geology, but at least there we got to build model volcanoes that actually erupted.

After another year of heavy mortgage volume, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is about to begin implementing another step in its multifamily “transformation plan” to cut FHA loan processing times even further and boost the agency’s share of financing for low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) projects.

Low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) investments will be more attractive as the result of accounting rule changes adopted December 11 by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, according to LIHTC industry sources. But they differed as to what the future impacts are likely to be on LIHTC investment volume, housing credit pricing, and yields.

NoHo Senior Arts Colony, North Hollywood, Calif. This sharp looking, low-rise development in the NoHo Arts District of Los Angeles, 20% affordable units and 80% market-rate, provides residents not only with quality apartments and amenities but also plenty of interesting and creative activities – classes in screenwriting, poetry, meditation, and yoga, as well as game and movie nights and concerts.

California architect Manny Gonzalez has witnessed a lot of changes over the last two decades in the design of affordable apartment communities for seniors, including those funded in part with low-income housing tax credits. As a result he can describe the changes as well as offer key suggestions to developers about important features for new senior communities today.

Low-income housing tax credits have been used to help finance one component of an innovative campus being developed in Detroit that is designed to meet the diverse housing and health care needs of low-income seniors, including frail individuals.

Construction has begun to transform a long vacant Pillsbury flour mill on the banks of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis into artist loft apartments, in a $150 million project financed in part by equity generated by federal and state tax credits.

It isn’t hard to imagine the next Mrs. Fields ramping up her new start-up cookie business in a low-rise industrial building being redeveloped in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood.

The Delaware Community Investment Corporation has merged with Great Lakes Capital Fund in a transaction that will benefit both organizations, which provide debt and equity for affordable housing and community development transactions.

The Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA) has awarded low-income housing tax credits (LIHTC) to four developments selected in its first separate competitive funding round for “high impact” projects.

Developers and owners should take a proactive approach when it comes to property tax assessments for low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) projects. Aggressive early and ongoing actions can prevent or minimize excessive assessments that can jeopardize the financial viability of a property, said panelists at the recent 2013 Annual Meeting of the National Council of Housing Market Analysts in Columbus, Ohio.