Pascua Yaqui Tribe closes second New Markets Tax Credit transaction

Dec. 10, 2012 - PRLog -- Working with Wells Fargo (http://www.wellsfargo.com/) and Travois New Markets (http://www.travois.com/), the Pascua Yaqui Tribe (http://www.pascuayaqui-nsn.gov/) recently secured New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) financing for a new $9 million Health and Wellness Center that is expected to be complete in fall 2013. Wells Fargo provided $2.7 million in New Markets Tax Credit equity for the project, which will help fund the 36,700-square-foot center.

“For more than 10 years the employees and community have waited for a building to call ours,” said Pascua Yaqui Tribe Vice Chairwoman Catalina Alvarez. “Currently our employees work from three different buildings in Guadalupe. A centralized location will help our employees provide quality services to our community, and including our employees in the design process brings more ownership.”  

The Pascua Yaqui Tribe’s reservation is located near Tucson, Ariz., but a significant number of its tribal members, about 20 percent, live in the community of Guadalupe. This new health and wellness center will provide health services, job training and education and community outreach to Guadalupe tribal members. The center will also serve as a satellite community center and will offer meeting space for cultural and community events and celebrations.

Travois New Markets dedicated $9 million of its $70 million NMTC allocation to the project and facilitated the closing of the NMTC transaction. Travois Environmental Services also helped with the closing, conducting the required Phase I Environmental Site Assessment. Wells Fargo provided equity to the project and will receive tax benefits for this community development investment.

“Wells Fargo was proud to invest in this project which fills an immediate community need,” said Tracy Ericson of Wells Fargo Community, Lending and Investment. “Not only will it create jobs for a community with a poverty rate of 26.7% and a 60.5% median family income, it will house much needed health and community services including language, culture and education.”

“By investing in this community, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe is providing jobs, economic opportunity and critical services,” said Phil Glynn, Travois vice president of economic development. “We are proud to be the tribe’s partner.”

The project is expected to create 72 construction jobs and retain 10 permanent jobs.

About the NMTC program
The NMTC program was created in December 2000 and is administered through the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The NMTC program serves as a catalyst to encourage investment of private equity capital into low income communities and allows taxpayers, such as Wells Fargo, to receive a credit against federal income taxes for making equity investments in designated CDEs. The credit provided to the investor totals 39 percent of the cost of the investment and is claimed over a seven-year credit allowance period. The CDE provides a qualified equity investment under favorable terms, such as a below-market interest rate and a longer-than-standard period of interest-only payments, to the qualified active low income community business.

About Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company  is a nationwide, diversified, community-based financial services company with $1.4 trillion in assets. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance through more than 9,000 stores, 12,000 ATMs, the Internet (wellsfargo.com), and has offices in more than 35 countries to support the bank’s customers who conduct business in the global economy. With more than 265,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States.  Wells Fargo & Company was ranked No. 26 on Fortune’s 2012 rankings of America’s largest corporations. Wells Fargo’s vision is to satisfy all our customers’ financial needs and help them succeed financially.  

About Travois
Travois New Markets, a nationally certified Community Development Entity (CDE), is dedicated exclusively to meeting the economic development needs of American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians in low income communities. Travois New Markets has invested a total of $110 million in New Markets Tax Credit allocation that it was awarded from the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and it will soon finish placing its most recent $70 million allocation. The Travois family of companies raises capital for housing and economic development in Indian Country and provides educational, environmental, architectural and asset management services.