The NMTC credits Enterprise just received are being made available under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009; Enterprise is one of 32 Community Development Entities receiving an allocation of the $1.5 billion in NMTC awards under the act. The new allocation brings Enterprise's total NMTC awards to $610 million--$515 million of which has previously been invested in low-income communities nationwide. Enterprise did not return a call to GlobeSt.com in time for publication.

Enterprise is planning to dedicate its allocation to create an Enterprise Green Communities New Markets Tax Credit Program--one of the first national financing vehicles for environmentally sustainable commercial, community and mixed-use developments in low-income areas in the United States. Enterprise already has a long-standing track record in green affordable housing, Joe Wesolowski, senior vice president for Structured Finance at Enterprise, says in a prepared statement. That expertise is now "being extended to commercial development projects," he says.

Under its Enterprise Green Communities New Markets Tax Credit Program, Enterprise will give priority to developments that incorporate energy efficiency and renewable energy and healthy building techniques as well as transit-oriented development and brownfield reclamation developments. The program will provide tax credit financing and technical services.

Nearly $12 billion in private-sector capital has been invested through the NMTC program into urban and rural communities nationwide to date, according to the Treasury Department. Through 2007 NMTC capital has helped develop or rehabilitate more than 68 million square feet of real estate. The NMTC program, enacted into law by the Community Renewal Tax Relief Act of 2000, has been extended through 2009. A recent proposal by the Obama administration to Congress will extend the NMTC program to 2010 with a $5 billion allocation round.