by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
Some redevelopers of historic buildings downtown are close to getting the City Council’s support for new downtown historic districts that would make it easier to get federal tax credits.
A pair of City Council committees passed unanimously last week a resolution urging the City to quickly inventory its historical properties. Once grouped together, it will be easier for the property owners and developers to get tax credits for their work.
Currently, owners and developers must apply for the credits individually, a process that can be time-consuming, said political consultant Ginny Myrick, who successfully lobbied the Council committees to pass the resolution. Myrick’s clients include several historic developers.
“Right now, people who want to use the credits designate their own buildings, it costs them in time and money,” said Myrick. “With these districts, all of the paperwork is done for you. It makes it easier to bring in new money to use on those buildings.”
Myrick said a federal tax credit expert had told her there was $30 to $40 million in federal incentives that could be put to work downtown.
“That’s money that’s new to the community, it’s federal money that doesn’t cost the City anything,” she said.
The Downtown Development Authority started an inventory of downtown’s historic properties in 1991. The City’s Planning Department commissioned a follow-up survey cataloging historic properties that have since been demolished and adding other properties to the list.
The listing would set guidelines for inclusion that would satisfy the requirements for the federal money. Properties included on the list would automatically qualify for the tax credits.
The resolution also asks the mayor’s office to group its historic properties together into as many as three districts downtown. Inclusion in one of the districts would establish the property as a landmark property worthy of City, State and federal aid.
In keeping a single listing of historic properties, the City would slash through reams of red tape and paperwork that can tie up developers for more than a year, said Mike Langton, principal of development firm Langton Associates.
Government aid must be available for historic development to work downtown, he said. Whether the City provides financial resources or expends political capital to make other resources easier to get, Langton said City Hall had to get involved. The City has expressed a desire to preserve historic buildings as part of downtown’s revitalization. For that to happen, the City needed to lessen the economic risks to historic developers, he said.
Historic buildings have often suffered neglect and deterioration. Developers enter into some projects knowing millions will likely have to be invested before the building turns profitable.
“Historic projects will not work without City participation,” he said. “The values on these buildings are not enough to go out and get a mortgage. Developers have to invest too much of their own equity to make the project feasible.”
The City Council isn’t urging direct funding for historic preservation, but Myrick said the historic districts would make it easier to get State and federal money. Langton said the districts would give immediate relief to developers that have battled bureaucracy as well as their bankrolls to get their projects going.
Langton has taken his plans for the Barnett Bank building to the City’s [Historic Preservation Commission] and has applied for a grant from the Historic Preservation Trust Fund. He expects to receive a landmark designation, but he said having his building included in one of the districts would likely have saved him about a year.
“You go to the Historic Commission, and that takes a couple meetings, you have to prepare to apply for the trust fund dollars,” he said. “By streamlining the bureaucratic process, they could really cut down on the time it takes, which saves money.”
Every month Langton waits for his paperwork to go through costs him $29,000 as the building’s price climbs, according to terms of Langton’s contract with the building’s owner. Langton said he is waiting to buy until he gets the City’s approval on a list of issues, including the building’s landmark status and added parking.