Grow Indianapolis Fund
New Markets Tax Credit Investment
Request for Proposals:
Small Loan Fund Origination and Servicing
September 05, 2023 – Indy CDE is seeking proposals for origination and loan servicing for our small loan fund to be capitalized in 2023 or 2024. Responses are due October 5, 2023. Click the “Get the RFP” on the right to view the PDF.
The Grow Indianapolis Fund (commonly referred to as Grow Indy Fund I or II) is a small/medium sized loan fund supported by New Market Tax Credits. The Grow Indianapolis Fund I was funded in 2016 with $8 million and the Grow Indianapolis Fund II was funded in 2019 with approximately $10 million. Unlike NMTC Direct Allocations, the Grow Indianapolis Fund allows smaller loan amounts to organizations and businesses. The Grow Indianapolis Fund is designed to provide growth capital to companies located in distressed qualified census tracts. These loans generally range from $250,000 to $2 million but loans of up to $4 million can be approved depending on the request. These loans are used for a wide variety of expenses including land acquisition, new construction, upgrading property, equipment, working capital, and refinancing existing debt to take advantage of the Grow Indy Fund’s favorable interest rates and terms.
Examples of funded projects include:
- An engineering firm specializing in gas turbine instrumentation and field testing used funds for working capital and refinancing high interest rate debt.
- A strip center in the Martindale-Brightwood area was purchased by a local business owner and renovated to create stability for it’s grocery store anchor tenant. This location is a designated food desert.
- A minority owned steel construction/fabrication business used loan proceeds to pay down expensive debt and as working capital.
- A granite fabrication and installation company used loan proceeds to boost working capital and to leverage discounts on inventory purchases. This company recruits labor and provides job opportunities to clients of the Wheeler Mission.
- A pharmaceutical repackaging enterprise used these funds to buy, renovate and repurpose an old school that had been closed many years ago. This location is now contributing to the tax base and is a stabilizing factor in this neighborhood. Funding also helped provide growth capital.
- A local logistics and processing center used these funds to support their growth. This company located in a distressed area often employs those from the reentry community.