Holley & Pearson-Farrer LLP is proud to continue our long-standing relationship with Carver State Bank, one of only 21 black-owned banks in the country, headquartered in Savannah, Georgia.
Our firm had the opportunity to serve as local counsel to the bank and its holding company and subsidiaries in a recent new markets tax credit (NMTC) sub-allocation of $8 million to finance the development and operation of Eagle Railcar, a railcar maintenance and repair facility in Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Georgia.
Ben Hill County is designated by the U.S. Department of the Treasury as a “persistent poverty county,” meaning it has had a poverty rate above 20% for at least 30 consecutive years. The Eagle Railcar project will result in the creation and retention of 150 high quality jobs that are accessible to the local community. The newly created jobs are expected to pay an average of $63,033, which is 183% of the county’s median household income of $35,455. Moreover, none of the jobs will require a college degree; in Ben Hill County, just 10.9% of residents have a college degree, as compared to 33% of Georgia residents statewide.
All employees of the project will have access to a comprehensive benefits package that includes health insurance, a 401(k) with a company match, skills training, a tuition reimbursement program, a scholarship program for employee dependents, paid holidays, paid vacation, and paid maternity/paternity leave. Further, given the uniqueness of the sponsor’s business, almost all management and supervisory positions are filled through internal promotions.
The Carver companies regularly provide investment capital for low-income communities and low-income persons by lending money to certain qualified low-income community businesses, resulting in the recapture of federal NMTCs. NMTCs incentivize investment in low-income communities. Under the NMTC program, the U.S. Department of the Treasury competitively allocates NMTC authority to intermediaries like Carver which choose investment projects, and investors receive a credit against their federal income tax obligations.
Holley & Pearson-Farrer LLP is a boutique law firm nationally recognized for its expertise in public and corporate finance. Our firm is based in Chicago, with additional offices in Atlanta, New York, and Savannah, Georgia.
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