Park Bank: Park Bank and Impact Seven Fulfill Wisconsin’s First New Markets Tax Credit Loan

Contact:
Kelly Lietz
Vice President – Marketing
Tel. 608.278.2873
Email: klietz@parkbank.com

$3.5 Million for Novation Campus Creates Opportunity for Madison’s South Side

MADISON, Wis. — Roughly one-third of the $10.5 million that Park Bank has committed to the Wisconsin Impact Fund will be used to advance the development of the 62-acre Novation Campus in the Town of Madison.

“With this first loan from the Wisconsin Impact Fund, Park Bank reaffirms its dedication to building thriving communities in the areas in which we operate,” said Jim Hegenbarth, president and CEO of Park Bank.

The Wisconsin Impact Fund’s loan of $3.5 million to The Alexander Company, the Novation Campus developer, is the state’s first financing deal struck as part of the Federal New Markets Tax Credit Program. The program, created by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, is designed to attract private-sector capital investment into urban and rural low-income areas to help finance community development projects, stimulate economic opportunity, and create jobs in the areas that need it most.

The Wisconsin Impact Fund is the investment vehicle established by Impact Seven, Inc. of Almena, Wisconsin, to distribute the benefits of the New Market Tax Credit Program throughout the state. Impact Seven was the only Wisconsin-based organization to receive a tax credit allocation in the first round.

“Since receiving the allocation, Impact Seven had envisioned using the credits to attract businesses and economic development to low-income communities throughout the state,” said William Bay, President and CEO of Impact Seven. “The $3.5 million loan to fund the Novation Campus is the first step in that direction.”

Once the site of a construction debris landfill and brownfield, the Novation Campus at Rimrock Road and the Beltline is now a commercial project that promises to enhance both the geographic and economic landscape of the area. “The financing made possible by the New Markets Tax Credit Program will help offset the higher cost of redevelopment here,” said Matt Meier of the Alexander Company. The Novation Campus is one of the largest urban infill redevelopment projects in Dane County’s history.

Meier added that the funding has helped the Novation Campus attract tenants to the site and contributes to the company’s goals of providing a state-of-the-art, flexible site for enterprise, industry and trade that will ultimately increase the financial vitality of Madison’s south side.

Park Bank of Madison, Wisconsin, is a community bank with more than $360 million in assets, a growing network of ten branch locations, and 150 ATM’s throughout Wisconsin. Park Bank’s dedication to its clients and its loyalty to the community it serves continue to fuel its expansion from its founding as a single branch in Madison 38 years ago.

Impact Seven is a statewide private, nonprofit community development corporation and a certified community development entity (CDE). Its work over the past three decades has resulted in the creation of more than 16,000 jobs, development of more than $654 million in housing, and direct investment of well over $300 million in Wisconsin communities.

The Alexander Company is nationally recognized for its achievements in urban development and historic preservation. It has undertaken the development, finance, design, restoration, construction and management of over 200 projects, and has completed several mixed-use master developments that incorporate new construction, historic preservation, and the restoration of problematic brownfield sites.