Federal grant to help Catalytic Fund push NKY redevelopment efforts

Earlier this year, The Catalytic Fund was certified as a Community Development Financing Institution, which made it eligible to apply for funding from the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financing Institution Program.
 
The Catalytic Fund recently received a $700,000 grant from the CDFI fund. It’s one of three Kentucky organizations and one of 123 across the nation to receive CDFI funds this year.
 
The money will be used for redevelopment efforts in Bellevue, Covington, Dayton, Ludlow and Newport, including $500,000 for seed money of a $2 million predevelopment fund.
 
The predevelopment fund is a new tool that will be used for site readiness — studies, plans, acquisitions and investments — that will help make future projects more feasible. The Catalytic Fund currently makes loans to real estate projects from a $10 million loan fund.
 
It’s not the first time The Catalytic Fund has focused on redevelopment. The organization has been a part of a number of projects in NKY, including the Mutual Building, Pike Star building and the recently begun Hotel Covington renovation. The Catalytic Fund is also the driving force behind Beyond the Curb, an urban living tour that’s been held in Covington and will switch its focus this Sunday to Newport.
 
The founding of a catalytic development corporation to help stimulate the redevelopment of urban areas was called for in the Vision 2015 Plan, which led to The Catalytic Fund’s founding in 2008. The organization had successful fund capitalization in 2013 and to date has loaned more than $1.7 million to redevelopment projects in Northern Kentucky.