Building America CDE, Inc. Receives $40 Million New Markets Tax Credits Allocation from U.S. Treasury

October 2, 2023

The U.S. Department of the Treasury Community Development Financial Institutions Fund awarded Building America CDE, Inc. (Building America) $40 million in New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) allocation authority on September 22, 2023. Building America, an AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust subsidiary, uses NMTC allocations to finance union-built projects that revitalize neighborhoods, bring critical services to underserved communities, and catalyze additional community development.

Since inception, Building America has been awarded $280 million in NMTC allocations. Building America has deployed $231 million of its previous NMTC allocations to 27 projects, leveraging $1.2 billion in development, creating over 4,100 permanent jobs, 6,000 union construction jobs, and 630 housing units.

Recent NMTC allocations to projects by Building America include The School at Marygrove, Pittsburgh Glass Center, and Public Health Management Corporation - Public Health Campus at Cedar. Building America deployed $8.0 million in NMTC for the significant rehabilitation of The School at Marygrove, a 64,700 square-foot innovative elementary school serving grades K-5 on Marygrove campus in Detroit. Not only was the construction completed with union labor, but the ability to support union teachers and union maintenance staff reaffirms Building America’s mission to create and support good quality jobs.

Building America allocated $5.0 million in NMTC for the expansion and renovation of the Pittsburgh Glass Center's 27,000 square-foot local non-profit public-access education center, art gallery, and glass studio. As the largest art facility in the East End of Pittsburgh, the Glass Center is a hub for innovation and creativity and has been a catalyst for economic development in its community.

Building America allocated $15 million NMTC to, the transformation of The Public Health Campus at Cedar (PHCC) from a 100-year-old, 450,000 square foot community hospital into a modern, integrated public health campus, utilizing 100% union labor for on-site construction work.  Once complete, the campus plans to include a federally qualified healthcare center and dental clinic, an inpatient pediatric crisis response and stabilization center, and several residential and non-residential social-service programs.  Maintaining its location will allow PHCC to better serve West and Southwest Philadelphia, two communities that face high rates of systemic poverty and unemployment along with poorer health outcomes and other socioeconomic challenges.

Building America's mission is to bring jobs and services to severely distressed communities to help address endemic poverty. Building America will continue to invest in mixed-use real estate projects that support workforce development, healthcare, education, job training, and affordable housing. These impactful projects transform neighborhoods, create high-quality jobs, and bring critical services to disadvantaged communities.

 The Freelon at Sugar Hill was one of the last developments famed architect Phil Freelon designed before his death in 2019. His work included Washington, DC’s Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture and Atlanta’s National Center for Civil and Human Rights.

 The center of Detroit’s jazz and entertainment scene between the 1940s and 1960s, the Sugar Hill Arts District was designated a national and local historic district in 2002. Today the midtown neighborhood is home to cultural anchors such as the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit and the N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Art.

 Building America’s CEO Harpreet Peleg accepted the QLICI award along with the lending partners at Novogradac’s June 8 awards ceremony in Washington, DC.  Ms. Peleg noted the development exemplified the CDE’s mission.

 “We invest where our work will maximize the impact of union workers and dollars on a community and its residents,” said Ms. Peleg. “The Freelon at Sugar Hill stands as an example of how quality housing and jobs bring to neighborhoods the energy and vitality they need to thrive.”