It only took 2 years for everything to change. Since 2002, our city has seen 24 historic tax credit projects that created 392 jobs, 180 housing units and generated over $75 million for the local economy. On top of that, we've seen some adaptive reuse projects that have given new uses to aging properties--a roofing company into art studios, a laundry facility into a coffee shop and ballet, and a grocery warehouse into loft apartments.
Why the turnaround?
I think part of the problem was a lack of understanding about historic preservation--what it entailed, what it required, and what it could do for the community. I quickly realized that most people thought that a National Historic Register Listing meant that the federal government automatically placed restrictions on a building, limiting the types of changes you could make to it and even prohibiting you from tearing it down. The reality is very different. Listing on the National Historic Register does not mean that you have to do anything to your building. You can even, heaven forbid, tear the thing down. Once we explained that federal and state renovation guidelines only applied if you were using a government incentive in the form of state and federal tax credits, property owners became much more comfortable listing their building on the Historic Register. In fact, once they realized they could use government tax credits to help fund their projects, many saw no problem meeting federal guidelines for their buildings.
Education is certainly important but the real reason for the turnaround, I think, was the work of one father/son team who took on the first Historic Preservation Tax Credit project in our downtown. The building spanned half a block and had been covered with metal siding back in the era where people were trying to solve their "downtown problem" by embracing a poor version of modernity. In fact, the upper cornices had been offhandedly chipped away in order to install the siding. To make matters worse, they covered all the windows as well. When the first section of siding was removed and the historic brick underneath was finally exposed, I think half of downtown stood out on the sidewalk marveling. The final result was the restoration of a beautiful historic building and the reclaiming of a section of Ninth Street that had been lost when the siding went up.
Now, nearly a decade later, historic preservation is a given in our community. It's added some traditional beauty to our cityscape, helped our local economy, opened up some underused sections of our downtown, added more retail and restaurant options, and even lead the way for other types of development incentives, such as TIF. When it comes to successful government initiatives, I don't think you can ask for much more.
