Building America CDE’s Investment “Destination Crenshaw” Named “2022 Community Development QLICI of the Year - Metro”

June 9, 2022

Washington, DC --- AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust’s subsidiary Building America CDE announced its investment in Destination Crenshaw has been nationally recognized as “2022 Community Development QLICI of the Year – Metro” by the Novogradac Journal of Tax Credits.    In late 2021, Building America allocated $8 million in New Market Tax Credits to complete financing for this vibrant reparation of Crenshaw’s historically overlooked and underserved black business corridor. 

“We are enormously proud to be one of several partners working together to promote a true renaissance of an important crossroads in South Los Angeles,” said Building America’s CEO Harpreet Peleg. “Destination Crenshaw will soon emerge as an exciting place where jobs, businesses and a cultural vitality will abound.”

The HIT is a registered investment company with over 35 years seeking to generate competitive returns for investors while promoting the creation of union construction jobs and affordable and workforce housing.  The HIT created Building America in 2010 to participate in New Market Tax Credit programs.  Since then, Building America has leveraged its expertise in community development to participate in $1.2 billion of total development, directly promoting critical improvements for severely distressed neighborhoods nationwide.

“Destination Crenshaw is a perfect example of how Building America maximizes the impact of the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust. Housing is not just bricks-and-mortar, it is people,” Peleg said. “The HIT finances affordable housing that leads to the creation of real communities. And Building America invests in those further needs that make communities truly come alive.”

Destination Crenshaw will recognize and celebrate the contributions of Black Angelinos to the City of LA and be the catalyst for future growth and transformation in South LA.  The project will feature exhibits and educational programs of historically black art and culture as the focal point of a wider revitalization effort in Inglewood, California.  Once completed, Destination Crenshaw will be an entirely new, multi-purpose development serving residents and visitors with a variety of features and services, including a street-level Metro rail line along the community’s main boulevard that feeds Los Angeles International Airport.