The Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund announced Sept. 4 in a blog post that the Community Investment Impact System (CIIS) is retired and that award recipients will submit to the Award Management Information System (AMIS) all reports, including institutional-level reports, transactional-level reports, qualified equity investment closeout reports and sub-community development entity dissolution reports. Before the CDFI Fund integrated CIIS into AMIS, CIIS was the reporting system for award recipients of the CDFI program, New Markets Tax Credit program and Capital Magnet Fund. AMIS is now the CDFI Fund’s system for managing, administering and monitoring CDFI Fund programs through each facet of their life cycle, including certification, awards and allocations, data analysis and reporting.

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Cinnaire announced Aug. 14 that Jim Peffley was appointed chief strategy officer. Peffley will be responsible for a newly created new ventures and product management team, customer engagement, real estate development and strategic communications. Peffley was previously the executive vice president of community development finance at Cinnaire. He joined the organization in 2013 through the merger of Great Lakes Capital Fund and Delaware Community Investment Corporation. Peffley serves on the board of the Housing Alliance Delaware, the National Association of State and Local Equity Funds, as well as the Community Service Building Corporation. 

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The Lyme Timber Company LP, a private timberland investment manager, announced Aug. 6 the closing of $20 million in new markets tax credits (NMTCs) equity for the acquisition of 118,300 acres of timberlands in the Wyoming, McDowell, Mingo and Logan counties of West Virginia. The NMTC equity was provided by Capital One NA, and will ensure the introduction of new safe-logging technology in the forest area. To address safety issues, Lyme will focus on bringing winch-assist harvesting technology to the region. The technology allows logging crews to operate harvesting machines on slopes that were previously logged by hand. This project is expected to preserve two dozen current contracting jobs, create five new direct jobs and create 19 new contractor jobs. 

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Cleveland Development Advisors (CDA), the real estate financing affiliate of the Greater Cleveland Partnership, announced Aug. 10 its $6 million NMTC investment in the Bowery. The Bowery is a $40 million redevelopment in Akron, Ohio, that will include apartments and commercial space. There are six vacant buildings that will provide 92 apartments and 40,000 square feet of commercial space, including a grocery store, offices and a microbrewery. CDA also has earmarked $10 million in NMTCs for Glenville Circle North, which will include 63 mixed-income apartments and a 13,000-square-foot business incubator.

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The Innovate Fund, a community development entity managed by Tax Advantage Group and Greenville Local Development Corporation, announced in mid-August the allocation of $21.5 million in NMTCs to two projects in Spartanburg, S.C. The Franklin School, an early childhood education center in the Northside community, received a $10 million allocation. Highland Baking Co., a wholesale bread baking company, received an $11.5 million allocation for production expansion. The combined funds are expected to support the creation of 265 direct jobs.

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Tax Advantage Group LLC, a consulting firm specializing in NMTC financing, assisted in the closing of an approximately $9 million in NMTCs for the renovation of the historic Plush Mill in Greenville, S.C. The transaction close in mid-August. The revitalized 24,500 square-foot building will be home to Serendipity Labs, a co-working and shared office space.