The Iowa Finance Authority (IFA) received twelve responses to the Request for Proposals for the Rural Development Demonstration Set-Aside for Low-Income Housing Tax Credits. All responses met the threshold requirements and received a score ranking. IFA has completed its evaluation of all submissions and has selected the top seven projects to be invited for further discussions with IFA and USDA-RD as part of the Rural Development Preservation Demonstration.
The top seven projects are being invited to work collaboratively with the IFA and USDA-RD teams in order to develop a full LIHTC application through the TAC online system. The calendar within the RFP will apply to the demonstration participants. If IFA and USDA-RD, along with the development team, determine that a project is not feasible to continue in the demonstration program, then the next highest ranking respondent will be notified to participate in the demonstration program. As a reminder, selection to participate in the RD Preservation Demonstration does not guarantee an allocation of IFA and/or USDA-RD funds.
The projects initially selected to participate in the Rural Development Preservation Demonstration are:
1. Grinnell Estates, Grinnell, IA; Applicant: MACO Development Company, LLC
2. Fairfield Oskaloosa Limited Partnership, Fairfield and Oskaloosa, IA; Applicant: Burns & Burns, LC
3. Prairie Village of LaPorte City; LaPorte City, IA; Applicant: Newbury Management Company
4. Boyer View, Logan, IA; Applicant: Logan 24, LP
5. Columbus Junction Park, Columbus Junction, IA; Applicant: Community Housing Initiatives, Inc.
6. Community Plaza Apartments, Forest City, IA; Applicant: Community Housing Initiatives, Inc.
7. Prairie Ridge, Sheldon, IA; Applicant: Community Housing Initiatives, Inc.
Should one of the first seven projects fail to proceed to resource reservation, then the following projects will be asked to participate in the Preservation Demonstration, in the order provided:
8. Fairfield Washington Limited Partnership, Fairfield and Washington, IA; Applicant: Burns & Burns, LC
9. Englewood Village, Mt. Pleasant, IA; Applicant: Community Housing Initiatives, Inc.
10. Osceola Estates, Osceola, IA; Applicant: MACO Development Company, LLC.
11. Westview Apartments, Granger, IA; Applicant: Community Housing Initiatives, Inc.
12. Greenway of Newton, Newton, IA; Applicant: Newbury Management Company
The final scores of the responses is available here.
A meeting with USDA-Rural Development and IFA staff will be in February 2012 to discuss the timeline and process to further evaluate projects for preservation and funding.
If any of the applicants should decide to participate in both the RD set-aside demonstration AND the competitive tax credit round, then the demonstration review process will not begin until following the award of LIHTC through the competitive process. An allocation of demonstration funds will depend on the availability of tax credits within the demonstration program after the award date of competitive LIHTC. In other words, if IFA skips over an application for the RD demonstration because of a submission of a competitive LIHTC application, and if all of the RD demonstration funds are awarded prior to the LIHTC competition award announcement, then that skipped project will not be considered for the demonstration.
IFA staff sincerely looks forward to working with the selected projects on what IFA and USDA-RD consider to be a high priority activity to preserve affordable housing in rural Iowa.
