AEGON USA Realty Advisors, LLC and Google Inc. Expand Their Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Investment Partnership

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AEGON USA Realty Advisors, LLC, a commercial real estate investment and management arm of AEGON and manager of a Low-Income Housing Tax Credit fund (Garnet LIHTC Fund XXV, LLC, “Fund”) for Google Inc. (“Google”) has added an additional property to the Fund with a new $27.6 million Google investment. The new property, Charlesview Housing Limited Partnership (“Charlesview”) in Boston, Mass., will be a community composed of 22 three to five story buildings with 240 units for families, a parking garage, commercial space and community space. The Fund will provide a major source of funding for the project.

“We are excited to continue our partnership with AEGON to expand quality affordable housing for families in the United States. This critical initiative reflects our sustained commitment to invest in areas that not only make sound financial sense but also help to benefit our local communities.”

Several tranches of the Fund closed earlier this year and included a $28 million investment in two low-income housing developments in Minneapolis, MN (Riverside Plaza Apartments) and Sante Fe, NM (Villa Alegre Senior Apartments) and a $47 million investment in Honolulu, Hawaii (Towers at Kuhio Park Terrace).

Brent Callinicos, Google Vice President and Treasurer said, “We are excited to continue our partnership with AEGON to expand quality affordable housing for families in the United States. This critical initiative reflects our sustained commitment to invest in areas that not only make sound financial sense but also help to benefit our local communities.”

According to Christoph Gabler, Senior Vice-President for AEGON USA Realty Advisors, LLC, Charlesview is being developed by The Community Builders, Inc., one of the nation’s largest nonprofit urban developers in partnership with Charlesview Inc., a community-based non-profit. The new community will include replacement units for families that currently live in the existing Charlesview Apartments located a half-mile away as well as new affordable and market rate units in the Allston-Brighton neighborhood of Boston. In addition, the plan calls for new streets, parks, a community center and retail space. Harvard University is providing the land on which the new development will be built as well as some of the capital to construct it, in exchange for title to the existing Charlesview which is at the epicenter of its Allston campus. The 240 units will consist of 211 affordable tax credit units, 200 of which will have Section 8 subsidies and 29 units that will be unrestricted units. The Project is being financed by a using 4% credits and tax-exempt bonds as well as subordinate financing. Affordability levels are being maintained for relocating residents via an innovative transfer of existing project subsidies to the new development.

About AEGON USA Realty Advisors, LLC

AEGON USA Realty Advisors, LLC, based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is a commercial real estate investment and management arm of AEGON and has been providing real estate investment services for over 25 years. The company is part of The Netherlands-based AEGON N.V., an international life insurance, pension and asset management company with businesses in over twenty markets in the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.aegonrealty.com.