Montana small business lender is giving Idaho a look

Montana Community Development Corp. started giving Idaho a serious look in 2012 with its New Markets Tax Credit program. Since then, it has financed five high-profile projects in Coeur d’Alene, Pocatello, Shelley and Rexburg, totaling $93.35 million in investments.

In all, the recently renamed Montana & Idaho CDC has distributed $341 million in New Markets Tax Credits to 25 projects in the two states since 2008. The federal program was launched in 2000 to partly or entirely finance projects in low-income areas that do not “pencil out” for traditional bank financing, Glaser said.

The tax credits are sold to investors, with the money then distributed to qualifying projects of at least $4 million, typically as grants. The Missoula-based Montana CDC financed the full $11.3 million cost of the Kootenai Medical Center and provided $15.8 million for Golden Valley Natural in Shelley; $21 million for Western States Caterpillar in Pocatello; $12.95 million for Targhee Professional Offices in Rexburg; and most recently, $32.3 million for the $40 million Hemming Cedars student housing mixed-use project in Rexburg. Hemming Cedars is its largest New Markets Tax Credit to date.

Glaser believes Montana & Idaho CDC is the only lending entity operating in Idaho that is focused on New Markets Tax Credits.

Montana & Idaho CDC provides financing and consulting services to incentivize development in low-income areas or provide seed funding for promising small business that can’t get other financing.