Columbia Capital brings its advisory approach on public finance transactions to its advice to sponsors/borrowers under the New Markets Tax Credits program. During 2016, the YMCA of Greater Kansas City engaged Columbia Capital for the second time to assist it in securing New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) to provide gap financing on a remodeling and expansion of its 100+ year-old family YMCA in Atchison, Kansas.

Columbia Capital developed internal financial modeling to demonstrate that the project’s financing could be self-supporting, negotiated with the YMCA’s primary lender to permit the NMTC financing to occur, secured a $10 million NMTC allocation from a regional community development entity (CDE), assisted the YMCA in selecting its professional team and led the execution and documentation process.

When title work on the project uncovered a decades-old encumbrance from a now-defunct urban renewal agency, Columbia Capital worked closely with the City of Atchison to secure necessary city commission approvals to provide comfort to the title insurer, permitting a policy to be issued.

Adding to the project's complexity, the YMCA discovered that its work on a portion of the project would subject it to $400,000 in state sales taxes not included in its pro forma, Columbia Capital again worked with the City of Atchison to secure industrial revenue bonds for the project, providing an exemption to sales tax on construction materials. At the same time, Columbia Capital worked closely with the CDE, the investor and their various legal counsel to “wrap” the NMTC financing within the industrial revenue bond financing.