Impact
Bringing the Putnam Block back to life is essential to the health and viability of Bennington’s downtown. Rehabilitating this prominent real estate is anticipated to trigger additional private investment in the downtown and surrounding neighborhoods; without its return to full life, the downtown will continue to suffer high commercial vacancies.
Gap and Investment
Community support for investing public funds in the Putnam Block is clearly demonstrated as most of these resources require public hearings and formal public input prior to approval, in addition to town and state official support. Despite these incentives, given the gulf between the appraised real estate value and development costs of the historic, downtown building, a substantial gap remained, even after BRG’s preferred equity and common stock raise of $4.5 million and thus evidences the need for NMTC allocation. The project could not go forward but for the NMTC equity to fill the gap.