Erie Center for Arts and Technology

Erie,
PA
(2020)

Erie Center for Arts and Technology

Community, Daycare and Early Childhood, FQHCs, Healthcare, Mixed-use, Nonprofit Hub, Schools, Youth and Families

A $10.3M renovation of the 107-year-old former school.

Investment

NMTC Amount: $9,500,000
Total Project Cost: $10,500,000

IMPACT

30 FTE jobs
40 construction jobs

CDEs

Commonwealth Cornerstone Group

Investor

PNC

Voices from the Community

ECAT utilized the first New Market Tax Credit deal in Erie County to rehabilitate an 80,000 sqft closed school building and convert it to a multi-use community facility that includes healthcare, job training, youth programming and social services. As a non-profit, we had no other tool at our disposable to make this vision a reality. In the end, the NMTC allowed us to address blight and make a significant investment in one of the most disinvested neighborhoods in our community. We strongly support the continuance of this program.

-Daria Devlin, Erie Center for Arts & Technology, Erie, PA

Project Description

a $10.3 million renovation of the 107-year-old former school. With the former Wayne building purchased, ECAT then turned to financing the $10.3 million in renovations. Of that, ECAT will fund about $2.5 million through its participation in the federal New Markets Tax Credit program, created in 2000 to provide incentives for investment in low-income areas. PNC Bank is buying the tax credits that will lead to the $2.5 million investment in the ECAT project — the first New Markets deal in Erie, according to US Treasury Department records.