SALT LAKE CITY, UT--(Marketwired - May 19, 2016) - Stonehenge Community Development announced today the results of a successful first year operating and using New Markets Tax Credits in Utah. In the past year, Stonehenge Community Development, a subsidiary of Stonehenge Capital Company, invested a total of $16.7 million into nine separate businesses in Utah through the state and federal New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) programs.
New Markets Tax Credits aim to catalyze economic development in low-income communities, spurring additional growth and providing jobs. In Utah, the programs helped Stonehenge to invest in the expansion of La Posada Pintada, a family-owned inn in Bluff, where traditional sources of financing have been hard to obtain for small-business owners in the rural community.
"Because of the small population, it was very difficult for my company to receive funding from conventional banks, who are mostly based out of the larger cities in the northern end of the state; these institutions are unfamiliar with the potential and need for expansion in the growing tourism market here in the southeastern end of the state," said La Posada Pintada owner Jennifer Davila.
Stonehenge, she said, "worked closely with me in making sure (the) loan would fit my needs and allow a much-needed expansion to my inn."
The expansion from six rooms to 10 at La Posada Pintada is expected to create jobs and to increase occupancy rates and consumer spending in the area, which is popular with tourists traveling to the Grand Canyon, Moab, Mesa Verde and Monument Valley.
Stonehenge also invested in Utah Coffee Roasters, in Salt Lake City, which plans to use the capital to purchase new equipment and double its staff size over the seven-year life of its loan, and in Mac Warehouse, a company that refurbishes and sells computers in Sandy. In addition, Stonehenge invested in a home health and hospice care company primarily in Salt Lake City and St. George and in a manufacturing business in Ogden, among other projects in a range of urban and rural communities of Utah.
Stonehenge was able to make these investments thanks to Utah's Small Business Jobs Act, approved by the Utah Legislature in 2014. The federal and state New Market Tax Credit programs are designed to attract private capital investment to areas in economic distress, creating jobs and boosting the economy.
The company is committed to make an additional $8.3 million of investment in Utah businesses in the coming years, bringing its total investment in the state to $25 million.
"Stonehenge has been delighted to work in Utah and to increase access to capital for small businesses located throughout the state," said L'Quentus Thomas, Director of Stonehenge's Utah NMTC Fund. "We look forward to continuing this work for years to come."
Stonehenge Community Development is a subsidiary of Stonehenge Capital Company, which is based in Columbus, Ohio, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and manages more than 100 New Markets Tax Credit investments across the United States.
For more information about how a business can qualify for funding from the company, please contact L'Quentus Thomas at lthomas@stonehengecapital.com. More information about Stonehenge is available at http://www.stonehengecapital.com.
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