New Market Tax Credits, allocated from the Department of Treasury, are being used to help construct a new meat processing facility in Oklahoma. The program is set up as a loan, and tax credits are given over seven years. The rights to the credits are then sold.
Elements of the greenfield 112,000-sq. ft. site will be both environmentally and cost friendly. For instance, ESI chose a construction methodology of insulated metal panels (IMPs). This means using steel framing rather than precast columns and walls, which are not recyclable, explains Caleb Brown, ESI architectural designer. “The steel structure contains up to 90% of recycled material and can be dismantled down the road and re-recycled. In comparison to a tilt-up or precast wall that would use all virgin material and is very limited on its ability to be reused.”
Additionally, an on-site wastewater pre-treatment facility demonstrates environmental stewardship and compliance and also eliminates surcharges incurred by sending wastewater to a municipal treatment plant.
Further savings will be achieved with a concrete paving profile that was lowered using fiber reinforcing, shrinking the profile from eight to six inches. This ultimately resulted in a savings in material and labor, says Teddy Martin, ESI project manager.
In total, $10 million will be allocated, 30% of which will be in the form of a tax credit over the seven years. When the rights to the credits are sold and discounted, $1.5 million will be forgiven.
“In the end, this program is worth the capital forgiveness to the client,” Martin says.
To learn more about New Market Tax Credits, visit https://www.cdfifund.gov/programs-training/programs/new-markets-tax-credit.
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