EVENT: Providence Academy Presentation & Open House

-
Thursday, May 31, 2018 @ 5pm
Location: Providence Academy

The Historic Trust will present the latest renderings of the proposed development, and has said that they will discuss funding options and answer questions from the community. The Trust says the community will have an opportunity to speak with Marathon Acquisition developers as well.

 This is the chance to find out *why* pursuing alternate avenues of (preservation) funding “aren’t feasible” and to be able to ask all those other questions that haven’t yet been answered.

 https://www.facebook.com/events/1111424748998014/?ti=icl

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Preservation Issue #4: Compatible Juxtaposition

-
Image
Marathon Development and the Historic Trust have used the term “compatible juxtaposition” to describe one of the guiding principles for their proposed development.  It’s gotten a fair amount of ridicule from the public for its oxymoronic composition.  But it is unfortunate for another reason, because it reveals the Trust’s lack of understanding of historic preservation. You see, “juxtaposition” is a term of art in the preservation world.  The everyday usage of the word - to place two different things next to each other - doesn’t quite cover the meaning in preservation.  In historic preservation, Juxtaposition is a technique for approaching new construction on or near historic buildings that is meant to both differentiate the new work while also revealing/emphasizing what is significant about the historic building.  But it takes more than just making the new construction different.  It requires a firm understanding of what is significant about that historic building or site, and the
Read more

Other Preservation Funding #2: Current Use Property Taxes

-
Image
In an interview with the Colombian editorial board, representatives of the Historic Trust stated “There is no other path, because of the economics.”  As we saw when we talked about the unused development potential, there is a source of funding that the Trust has not pursued.  If there is one, could there be more? The answer is yes. Let’s start with a smaller one.  Even though the Historic Trust is a nonprofit, it still pays property taxes, and has been paying them since they bought the Academy .. to the tune of over $100,000 per year.  Commercial property taxes are based on the market value of the land, which is typically the “highest and best use.”  That means property owners pay taxes on what the land could be used for, not what it IS being used for. That is, unless the land has a historic building on it.  In that case, Clark County has a special program where the land can be taxed at its current use rather than its market value.  The value of the Academy’s current
Read more

Other Preservation Funding #3: Historic Preservation Tax Credits

-
Image
So far we have looked at two sources of preservation funding that the Historic Trust has neglected in their effort to redevelop the Academy site.  Now, let’s look at a third:  Historic Preservation Tax Credits.  This is one of the go-to sources of funding for major preservation projects like the Academy. Income producing historic properties like the Academy building - most of it is rented out as offices or event spaces - are eligible for a tax credit of 20% of the cost of a rehabilitation project.  The Historic Trust has stated that the rehabilitation of the Academy will cost $15 million.  That’s a tax credit of $3 million! The wrinkle here is that the Historic Trust is a non-profit, so it’s not eligible for tax credits.  Some non-profits would just stop there.  But this is an old problem with an old solution, one that has been well-trod by experienced preservationists.  A non-profit can bring on a for-profit partner to the project who brings cash to the partnership.  The non-
Read more