Vail Health partners with community development entities to access $63.25 million in New Market Tax Credits

Vail Health recently issued the following press release on New Market Tax Credits:

Vail Health, Capital One, N.A., Colorado Enterprise Fund, Colorado Growth & Revitalization Fund (a part of Colorado Housing and Finance Authority), Stonehenge Community Development, and Empowerment Reinvestment Fund recently closed a $63.25 million New Market Tax Credit (NMTC) project through the U.S. Department of Treasury Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Fund for the construction of the Precourt Healing Center, a 28-bed in-patient behavioral health facility in Edwards, CO. Additional funding for the project construction is coming from generous donations from Jay and Amanda Precourt and the Vail Health Foundation fundraising efforts, which are still underway.

“The Precourt Healing Center is going to provide an invaluable resource to our mountain communities, and we are humbled to receive the largest NMTC award in the history of Colorado for this project,” said Vail Health President and CEO Will Cook. “This form of subsidy is an effective supplemental financing strategy that allows us to reduce the overall amount of funding we need to raise to complete the Precourt Healing Center.”

Capital One, N.A. served as the tax credit equity investor and also brought allocation through its Community Development Entity (CDE), Capital One Community Renewal Fund.  Other CDEs who brought allocation were: Colorado Enterprise Fund; Colorado Growth & Revitalization Fund (a part of Colorado Housing and Finance Authority); Stonehenge Community Development; Empowerment Reinvestment Fund.

Vail Health broke ground on the Precourt Healing Center in fall 2022 and began vertical construction in June 2023, with an anticipated completion date of spring 2025. The Precourt Healing Center will offer 28 beds, 14 for adults and 14 for teens over the age of 12, and is located in the Edwards Community Health Campus, a hub for behavioral health and community health services. Vail Health opened the Wiegers Mental Health Clinic in the Edwards Community Health Campus in January 2023 and also provides outpatient Vail Health Behavioral Health services on the campus. The Vail Health Behavioral Health Innovation Center will also begin its research studies from these facilities. My Future Pathways and The Community Market operate out of the campus as well.

“The Edwards Community Health Campus continues to blossom as a centralized area for behavioral health care and community resources, expanding on Vail Health’s mission of elevating health across our mountain communities,” said Cook. “The NMTC is a new way for us to look at how we grow in our community so that our resources are focused on the most impactful part – providing the health services people need.”

Congress established the NMTC program<https://www.cdfifund.gov/programs-training/programs/new-markets-tax-credit> in 2000 to incentivize community development and economic growth through the use of tax credits that attract private investment to distressed communities. The NMTC Program attracts private capital into low-income communities by permitting individual and corporate investors to receive a tax credit against their federal income tax in exchange for making equity investments in specialized financial intermediaries called Community Development Entities (CDEs). The credit totals 39 percent of the original investment amount and is claimed over a period of seven years.