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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Vice President

For Immediate Release April 17, 1998

                     VICE PRESIDENT GORE ANNOUNCES 
                   $12 MILLION IN HUD ASSISTANCE FOR 
                DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS IN MEMPHIS

Memphis, TN -- Vice President Gore today announced $12 million in Department of Housing and Urban Development loan guarantees to Memphis. The funds will help create jobs and finance an important redevelopment effort in downtown Memphis.

I am pleased to announce this new commitment which will keep downtown Memphis a strong, vibrant part of the community -- drawing more visitors and creating more jobs, Vice President Gore said. And that is why President Clinton and I will keep working to find new ways to help local governments achieve their economic development goals.

The Vice President made the announcement while participating in a groundbreaking ceremony for a runway extension project at the Memphis International Airport.

Memphis will receive a $12 million loan guarantee to aid in the financing of the $100 million Peabody Place development just south of the newly-renovated Peabody Hotel in downtown Memphis. Peabody Place will be an entertainment center including a 23-screen movie complex and 175,000 square-feet of space for other specialty retail establishments. It is expected that the development will create or retain 726 jobs, many of which will be for low-and moderate-income people. The city also expects the development to generate approximately $2 million of net new tax revenues in the first year of operation.

Today's announcement is evidence of the strong commitment by President Clinton and Vice President Gore to help revitalize America's cities and help businesses prosper and create good jobs for American workers, HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo said. We are strengthening our partnership with Memphis to help the city and its people.

The Clinton Administration has proposed a new $400 million Community Empowerment Fund to assist communities like Memphis with their job creation and economic development efforts. The Vice President said the Administration expects this proposal to leverage an estimated $2 billion in private sector loans to businesses and to create and retain an estimated 280,000 jobs for economically distressed communities around the nation.

HUD's 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 majority of jobs created by each project are available to people with low and moderate incomes.

The Economic Development Loan Guarantees, also known as the Section 108 program, save communities money by reducing the interest rate they are charged on loans form 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 creation activities.