DURHAM, NC --(Marketwired - September 20, 2016) - KIPP Durham College Prep, along with community leaders and its community development partners, celebrated the opening of its newly renovated, historic Holloway Street School on Friday.
"We are thrilled to be in our new space at the historic Holloway Street School," said KIPP Durham school leader Anders Campbell.
KIPP Durham opened in August 2015 to a founding class of 90 fifth graders. In its first year of operation, the school operated in the Holloway Street School's gymnasium which had been converted into four small classrooms. Renovations and additions on the nearly ninety-year old building took fourteen months.
"To watch the faces of our returning students as they entered their new school for the first time was worth the wait," Campbell added. "And of course it wouldn't have happened without the perseverance and commitment of our development partners."
Self-Help Ventures Fund served as the project's real estate developer. Self-Help project manager Dan Levine noted, "the historic Holloway Street School was an East Durham community fixture from the 1920s to the 1990s. We are proud to have partnered with the extraordinary team at KIPP Durham to put the building back into school use."
The historic rehabilitation cost $13.5 million in total and the project financing included use of both the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) and state and federal Historic Tax Credit (HTC). National Trust Community Investment Corporation (NTCIC) and The Community Builders provided $7.5 million and $5.7 million in NMTC allocation, respectively. Wells Fargo provided $4.4 million in NMTC equity. East West Bank provided $1.3 million in federal HTC equity, an investment secured by NTCIC. Enhanced Capital provided $405,000 in North Carolina HTC equity. Self-Help Ventures Fund provided a $1.3 million bridge loan and a $7.5 million permanent loan to complete financing for the project.
The Community Builders' Vice President Morgan Wilson said, "KIPP Durham College Prep represents a significant, new educational asset that will benefit residents in nearby communities as well as the broader neighborhood. TCB is pleased to have been able to help make this investment possible."
Also of note, the Historic Holloway Street School renovation is one of the first to utilize North Carolina's HTC since it was reinstated, effective January 1, 2016. The project likely would not have been feasible without the renewed the state credit.
"This is a wonderful example of how historic tax credits are an important element to saving North Carolina's historic structures," said Natural and Cultural Secretary Susan Kluttz. "These credits are used at no risk to the state, but can be the difference between a building becoming a vital part of the community again or becoming abandoned and a blight in our downtowns. Congratulations, KIPP Durham College Prep and Self-Help in sparking growth and education in our great state."
About KIPP ENC KIPP Eastern North Carolina (ENC) Public Schools is beginning its sixteenth year serving students and families in Eastern North Carolina. What began as one school (Gaston College Preparatory) with seventy students on a 27-acre peanut field in Gaston, North Carolina, has grown into KIPP ENC Public Schools -- a network of five schools serving nearly 1,600 students in three communities. 100% of every graduating class in KIPP ENC has earned acceptance to a four-year university and the college completion rate of alumni is nearly eight times the national average for students from low-income communities. Alumni are now graduating from Princeton, Penn, Duke, Morehouse, Howard, UNC Chapel Hill, North Carolina Central, Wake Forest and many others.
KIPP Durham College Prep is the fifth school in the KIPP ENC network. It currently serves 185 students in fifth and sixth grades and will grow to serve fifth through eighth grades. KIPP Durham is free and enrollment is open to all students from Durham. The school provides transportation to all students and breakfast and lunch are free.
About Self-Help Ventures Fund SHVF is an affiliate of a broader network of entities under the Self-Help banner that together are a leading national community development financial institution. Headquartered in Durham, the nonprofit has provided over $7 billion in financing to nearly 112,000 families, individuals and businesses. It helps drive economic development and strengthen communities by financing hundreds of homebuyers each year, as well as nonprofits, child care centers, community health facilities, public charter schools, and residential and commercial real estate projects. Self-Help's credit unions serve over 120,000 people in North Carolina, California, Chicago, and Florida with a full range of financial products and services. Learn more at www.self-help.org .
For more information, contact: David Beck Self-Help Credit Union 919-956-4495 david.beck@self-help.org Ben Adams KIPP ENC 252-578-9913 badams@kippenc.org
