Centerline Capital Group selected by U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for tax credit pilot

benzinga.com
(12/17/2012 10:58 AM, Thomson Reuters)
New York, NY -December 17, 2012- Centerline Capital Group ("Centerline"), a provider of real estate financial and asset management services for affordable and conventional multifamily housing, and a subsidiary of Centerline Holding Company, announced today it was selected to participate in a tax credit pilot program conducted by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

The pilot was designed to accelerate the approval process for the purchase or refinance of multifamily rental properties assisted through the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) Program.

The Pilot Program initially launched earlier in 2012 in Chicago, Detroit, Boston, and Los Angeles and recently expanded with the inclusion of the Atlanta, Denver, Fort Worth, San Francisco, and Seattle hubs. The Tax Credit pilot creates a distinct application platform and separate processing track under the Section 223(f) program. FHA's Office of Multifamily Housing Programs believes the program can cut the time needed to review and approve financing applications for LIHTC-assisted transactions from approximately one year to 90 - 120 days. Centerline will be authorized to begin submitting loans under the program in early 2013.

The Pilot Program will be available for permanent financing for recently constructed and occupied properties, preservation and moderate rehab for Section 8 rental assistance properties, or older stabilized properties through the re-syndication of tax credits. (See full-text article for features of the pilot.)At the outset of the program implementation, Marie Head, HUD's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Multi-family Housing said, "If we can successfully cut the time it takes to approve these lower risk LIHTC projects in these four cities, we have the potential to dramatically increase the production of affordable rental projects nationwide." The success in the initial 4 cities warranted expansion of the Pilot Program.