CUOMO RELEASES $10.5 MILLION IN HUD FUNDS FOR INGLEWOOD REVITALIZATION EFFORTS

INGLEWOOD, CA -- Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo today announced $10.5 million in HUD loan guarantees and economic development assistance is now available to help Inglewood revitalize distressed areas of the city. Cuomo, concluding a four-day working visit to Southern California, came to the city at the invitation of U.S. Representative Maxine Waters, a strong proponent of Inglewood redevelopment and the HUD loan guarantee program.

Cuomo, Waters and Inglewood Mayor Roosevelt F. Dorn today toured an area near La Brea and Regent, which will be renovated using a portion of the $10 million in Section 108 loan guarantees and $500,000 in Economic Development Initiative grants being made available by HUD to the city. The officials then discussed the city's economic development plans with local business leaders and other officials at the nearby Inglewood Library.

"This economic revitalization project will strengthen HUD's partnership with Inglewood," Cuomo said. "This is an example of the type of wise investment by the Clinton Administration that is helping communities around the nation."

Inglewood will use $4 million in HUD loan guarantees to help build a public parking facility that will be used by patrons of a new 12-screen movie theater and customers of a new, 85,000 square foot retail shopping development planned for the Market Street area of downtown. An additional $1 million will be used to establish a small business loan program, to improve building facades and make public improvements in the Market Street area.

In Inglewood's Imperial-Prairie Redevelopment Area, the city plans to use $5 million in loan guarantees to acquire land and prepare it for commercial redevelopment. Inglewood will use the $500,000 grant from HUD to defray borrowing costs.

Congresswoman Waters said: "I am extremely excited and appreciative that Secretary Cuomo unraveled the long-standing obstacles to the realization of this project. The City of Inglewood made application for Section 108 loan guarantee funds several years ago, and was unable to get final authorization, causing the project to be in limbo. Thanks to the leadership of Secretary Cuomo , we have been able to resolve these issues and get the redevelopment of downtown Inglewood underway. This is a great day for the City of Inglewood, and as their representative in Congress I feel as if all my work in Washington has paid off for the citizens of Inglewood."

Mayor Dorn said: "We are extremely pleased with HUD's commitment to provide Section 108 funds as a part of a partnership to begin the revitalization of Inglewood's downtown area. These funds will enable the city to proceed with a cinema retail development which will anchor the northern portion of the downtown, thus signaling a major step in the city's revitalization efforts."

HUD's Section 108 Economic Development Loan Guarantee Fund provides communities with a source of financing for job creation, housing rehabilitation, and construction of public facilities and large-scale development projects.

The loan guarantees save communities money by reducing the interest rate they are charged on loans from commercial lenders. The guarantees also make loans more readily available and often attract other sources of funding from local and state governments, non-profits and the private sector to complete financing for major job creation activities.

Grants from HUD's Economic Development Initiative enable localities to carry out economic development activities where public and private dollars can be leveraged to create jobs and other benefits.

Cuomo also said that President Clinton's proposed 1999 budget would further benefit Inglewood by boosting other HUD assistance to the city from about $3.8 million this year to an estimated $4.5 million next year.

In addition, Cuomo said that Inglewood could apply for further economic development assistance if President Clinton's proposal for a HUD Community Empowerment Fund is approved as part of the 1999 federal budget. The Community Empowerment Fund would make $400 million in grants to help economically distressed communities create and retain an estimated 280,000 jobs. The communities would use the funds to leverage an estimated $2 billion in private sector loans to businesses.