Merritt Community Capital Corp. has engaged Candeur Group to underwrite, acquire, and close low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) investments and provide fund investment structuring for its next fund.
The move was made to provide a seamless transition of services when Karen Smyda, Merritt’s longtime director of acquisitions, retires at the end of March, according to company officials.
Merritt, a leading provider of LIHTC capital in California, is currently marketing its next multi-investor LIHTC fund, Merritt Community Capital Fund XX. The firm expects to raise $70 million and anticipates a fund closing in September, and, per Merritt’s mission, will invest only in California-based LIHTC properties.
Candeur Group, led by industry veterans Greg Judge and Catherine Talbot, has over 75 years of combined experience in the LIHTC industry, covering varying economic cycles, industry crises, and full lifecycle activity on over $6 billion of LIHTC investments.
“We are excited to help Merritt continue its mission of providing LIHTC equity to low-income communities and developers throughout California,” says Judge, managing partner at Candeur. We look forward to working with Merritt’s developer clients and investors and helping Merritt further their mission of providing affordable housing to low-income Californians.”
Since 1989, Merritt has invested more than $765 million in 20 separate funds to build 8,485 affordable homes.
“Merritt is committed to continue its legacy of mission-driven work in affordable housing,” says Lisa Castillo, president and CEO of Merritt. “To that end, we found it critical to make sure we could provide the same quality of acquisition originations and underwriting that we’ve come to enjoy with the senior industry expertise of Karen Smyda. We are delighted to work with Candeur Group, tapping their specific expertise in analytics and underwriting while also adding creativity to our extremely competitive industry.”
