Featured Projects
Milwaukee World Festival
1-40 Full-time and 329 FTE sustained positions
Renaissance Faire, LLC
Creation of 300 permanent jobs; $12MM in wages
Discovery World
2,358+ disadvantaged youths received summer scholarships
Beerline Crossing LLC
Creation of 100 construction jobs; $3.2MM in wages
Announcements
FIRE is looking for business and non-profit projects
FIRE is looking for business and non-profit projects that are making impactful investments within FIRE’s service area of Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, and Kenosha Counties and are looking for projects (development, equipment and/or working capital) whose total project costs are in the $5,000,000 +/- range.
As an example, for a total project cost of $5 million FIRE could provide about $1,000,000 in net NMTC financing. FIRE’s loan has a term of 7-years and requires interest-only payments with an effective interest rate generally in the range of 2% to 3%. At the end of the 7-year term FIRE usually forgives over 75% of the principal. In this example, the principal forgiveness would amount to about $750,000
FIRE is looking for projects that are currently in need of financing and pipeline projects that might be ready to go in the next few years. So, if you are aware of any potential projects in eligible neighborhoods, please let us know. To see if a project is in an eligible census tract please use the following link: https://www.bakertilly.com/insights/new-markets-tax-credit-and-low-income-housing-tax-credit-mapping-tool
To date FIRE as a financial intermediary has received a total of $353 million in NMTC credits from the US Treasury - CDFI Fund. FIRE uses the allocation to help finance projects in low-income census tracts. FIRE’s financing led to over 3.1 million square feet of development, renovation, or expansion. Of this amount over two million square feet has been on environmentally contaminated Brownfield sites. As a result of these developments, 8,700 jobs have been created or retained in these low-income neighborhoods. Every $1 in NMTC investments generates over $8 in private investments.
About Us
Our Mission
With the main mission being stimulation of regional economic growth, FIRE’s vision is to inject capital into projects that produce job creation and retention, to enhance tax base growth, and to yield new life in the urban cores of targeted dis-invested areas.
Community Impacts
FIRE has received ten New Market Tax Credit awards totaling $353mm
To date, FIRE has committed $337mm of its allocation by funding 38 projects
Supported the creation and retention of over 8,691 jobs
FIRE welcomes requests for NMTC’s throughout the year as we work to maintain an active pipeline of viable and potential projects throughout the region.