Novation Technology Campus gets $3.5 million boost

MADISON, Wis. -— The Wisconsin Impact Fund has loaned $3.5 million to The Alexander Company, the developer of a commercial campus on Madison's south side, as part of a federal program designed to boost community development.

The Federal New Markets Tax Credit Program offers private investors tax incentives to loan money to qualified community-development organizations, as long as the money goes toward helping low-income communities.

“The financing made possible by the New Markets Tax Credit Program will help offset the higher cost of redevelopment here,” said Matt Meier of the Alexander Company.

The financial backing has also attracted tenants, he said, and will help make the campus a modern facility with amenities that commercial enterprises need. The Novation Campus is a 55-acre commercial development on Rimrock Road south of the Beltline. Once a brown field and construction landfill, the land is the last undeveloped space adjacent to a major Beltline interchange. The plan calls for 400,000 square feet of retail, office and flex space during the campus's first phase.

Among its services will be a job-training center administed by Madison Area Technical College, daycare and business consulting. Additionally, it will provide bulk power, data and phone services.

Impact Seven Inc. of Almena, Wis., was the only company in the state to get into the tax-credit program in the first round.

Park Bank, a community bank based in madison with approximately $360 million in assets, has committed $10.5 million to the fund, and the Novation Campus deal is the first to be inked.

"Since receiving the allocation, Impact Seven had envisioned using the credits to attract businesses and economic development to low-income communities throughout the state," said William Bay, president of Impact Seven. "The $3.5 million loan to fund the Novation Campus is the first step in that direction."