U.S. Treasury designation could help rehab more buildings in river cities

More buildings could go from vacant to occupied in Northern Kentucky's urban area — that's what the head of a nonprofit economic financing institution hopes will come from a new federal designation.

The U.S. Treasury named the Catalytic Fund the third Community Development Financing Institution (CDFI) in the Cincinnati region and first in Northern Kentucky, the fund announced Tuesday.

Why should you care?

It could mean more money for residential and commercial real estate projects in the five Northern Kentucky river cities where the Catalytic Fund operates — Ludlow, Covington, Newport, Bellevue and Dayton.

"Our goal is to create a much stronger tax base by figuring out how to take different sites that are difficult, that are sitting vacant, and turning them into a tax producing facility or building," said Jeanne Schroer, president of the Catalytic Fund. "Once you start doing that, you provide housing that attracts residents who want a great place to live. Then you get businesses that want to locate near areas that are great places to live."

The nonprofit Catalytic Fund has gathered $10 million in investment from banks and foundations to pump back into real estate projects. So far, it's given $1 million total to three residential and commercial rehab projects in Covington with several others in the works. This includes the rehab of the long vacant Mutual building in the 600 block of Madison Avenue that will have street-level commercial space and upper floor market rate apartments.

The CDFI designation means the Catalytic Fund can apply for more grants and tax credits. That could double the size of the fund to $20 million, Schroer said.

"We could invest in larger projects," Schroer said. "For example, right now, a $500,000 investment is about our limit in any one project. If you had a $20 million fund, we could make a $1 million investment and then the potential project size would increase."