TowneBank starts division to facilitate community projects

By Tom Shean
The Virginian-Pilot
© March 16, 2010

TowneBank, whose nonbank activities range from insurance sales to property management, has created a unit to line up tax credits for community-development projects.

The unit, Towne New Markets Community Development Entity, will help businesses and organizations arrange financing through the Treasury Department's New Markets tax-credit program, Ute Heidenreich, president of the new unit, said Monday. Towne New Markets CDE will concentrate on projects in Virginia and eastern North Carolina that help medically underserved communities, address emerging technology and assist charter schools in lower-income communities, she said.

By selling the New Markets tax credits to investors, community-development projects are able to attract funds from private sources. The Treasury Department announced earlier this year that it planned to expand its New Markets program as a way to spur job creation and development.

However, the process of winning an allocation of New Markets tax credits from the Treasury is highly competitive, Heidenreich acknowledged. Applications for the credits must compete nationwide.

TowneBank, whose headquarters is in Portsmouth, is the largest bank based in Hampton Roads. Two other entities in the region - Hampton Roads Ventures and Southside Development Enterprises - have been active at lining up the tax credits. Hampton Roads Ventures is a subsidiary of the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority. Southside Development Enterprises is a unit of the Portsmouth Redevelopment and Housing Authority.

Tom Shean, (757) 446-2379, tom.shean@pilotonline.com

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There won't be any interest in this at all

Submitted by thefinalword on Tue, 03/16/2010 at 5:11 pm.

Tax credits only help if you have net income after losses. It's an ill-conceived and poorly-timed program, as most high income people who would normally be interested already have more tax losses than they need.