New Utility Industry Advisor on Staff  

Incentis group is excited to announce the addition of Marty Flynn and his expertise to our team.  Marty Flynn has joined Incentis as Utility Industry Advisor, specializing in gas, electric, water and sewer issues faced by expanding companies.

Marty spent 30 years with Dominion East Ohio, a gas utility company in Cleveland, OH, working

with commercial and industrial end-users, as well as developers, general building contractors, and mechanical contractors. Marty also worked with developers, municipal officials, and economic development professionals to qualify sites for the State of Ohio's Job Ready Sites program.

Utility incentive programs can be layered in with other development incentives or sought separately for projects related solely to energy and/or water.  For information regarding utilities and their associated incentive programs, please contact Marty at (440) 465-0994 or mflynn@incentisgroup.com. 

New Markets Tax Credits, Update and Successes   

Applications for the 2011 Round of NMTC Allocations were filed in July and the CDFI Fund reported a 26% increase in the number of applicants and a 14% increase the amount of allocation requested compared to 2010.   The 314 applicants requested almost $27 billion in allocation, over 7 times more than the $3.5 billion in allocation available.  The CDFI Fund expects to announce the award amounts in early 2012.  Due to the competition for a limited amount of allocation, it is important to begin matching up NMTC projects with potential allocation awardees.  Much like we saw earlier this year with the 2010 allocations, we expect the 2011 allocations to move quickly

Incentis group recently assisted clients on two NMTC projects in the Southwest.  We identified CDEs that were interested in making their allocation available to our clients' projects and helped find investors where needed.  Incentis group facilitated the closing process to ensure that the deals were funded on time and within budget.  One project entailed a $12.5 million investment resulting in a benefit of $2.1 million to our client.  The other project involved a $16 million investment and provided our client with $4 million in NMTC benefit. 

Please contact Larry Kramer at 216-408-1133 or James Gomochak at 312-421-3482 to learn more about our NMTC services. 

Distribution Center in the Southeast Awarded Significant Package

Incentis group conducted successful negotiations with a State and County in the Southeastern United States to deliver a package valued at over $7.7 Million in State and Local incentives for a client considering investment in a new distribution center.  In order to obtain the discretionary incentives, incentis group demonstrated the value the project would bring to the community, including job opportunities and incremental taxes.  The incentives offered include local property tax benefits, state grants and credits and training assistance.  The State and Local assistance played a significant role in the client's internal project approval process.  The total proposed investment for the project was just over $11 Million.  For this project, incentis group was able to secure incentives worth over 70% of the total project costs. 

Message from the CEO 

The "recovery" that continues to be unable to gain the traction needed to provide reasons for optimism may not resolve itself in the next six to twelve months.  The current environment continues to make many companies reluctant to undertake capital investment and has resulted in the delay of projects under consideration. 

One of the factors that is having a positive influence on investment is the basket of economic incentives available to companies from state and municipal governments across the nation.  While some states and communities have reduced funding for economic incentive programs due to budgetary constraints, many more have seen the wisdom in adding to their arsenal of business attraction and expansion tools as a means for jump starting recoveries within their jurisdictions.  We have seen this especially true in the Southeast U.S. where states like Tennessee, South Carolina and Arkansas have stepped up efforts to provide inducements for new investment and have seen very positive results.  These include the construction of the new Boeing manufacturing facility in South Carolina, the attraction of two Amazon facilities to Tennessee and the announcement of the new $100 million Saint-Gobain manufacturing facility in Arkansas.

As you have seen in our past newsletters, the incentive packages that are offered to companies investing in plant and people can be extremely valuable.  Examples of this are a $46 million incentive package for a manufacturing facility in the Southeast, a $30 million incentive package for a distribution center in the Midwest, and a $100 million incentive package for a facility in the Northeast. 

Economic incentives are bright spot in a dismal economy.  Is your company considering the value that these benefits can offer as you look at new investment?     

Larry Kramer