Historic-preservation advocates are trying to reframe the conversation around the largely inactivated state Historic Preservation Tax Credit program.
Yes, historically significant buildings have been beautifully repurposed for a new generation. Yes, they showcase the state’s history as a Colonial and industrial-age force. But historic-preservation organizations are trying to bring a new emphasis to the economic impact of the program, which has created jobs in town centers and cities since it was created in 2001.
A new report commissioned by two groups details just how many jobs and how much impact:
• Twenty-six of 39 communities in Rhode Island have had a historic preservation tax credit project since the program started.
• Since 2001, $1.8 billion in private investment has helped transform historical buildings in the Ocean State.
• The return on the public tax credit is $10.53 in increased economic activity for every $1 the state invests.
The impact study, prepared by Washington, D.C.-based PlaceEconomics, was commissioned to try to redirect the discussion around tax credits, according to Val Talmage, executive director of Preserve Rhode Island. Her group and the Preservation Society of Newport County funded the effort.
“The whole purpose of the study, frankly, was out of our frustration that our message wasn’t getting across,” Talmage said. “We say historic preservation and we mean construction jobs, preservation and community development – business. And people hear: ‘Oh, isn’t that nice.’”
The return on investment accounts for additional spending on projects above and beyond what can qualify for the state tax credit, including new landscaping and renovations of nonhistoric buildings. “You’re not talking 4-to-1, you’re talking 10-to-1, and that’s not really being recognized,” said Donovan Rypkema, principal of PlaceEconomics.
That the program hasn’t received new state funding since 2013 is vexing to Talmage and others, who are making an argument that it makes good financial sense.
The issue was expected to have its own panel discussion on March 22 at the biannual meeting of smart-growth proponents, organized by Grow Smart Rhode Island.
While the multimillion-dollar projects receiving state historic tax credits tend to get the press, the redevelopment of defunct mills, for example, nearly one-third of the projects, were less than $500,000 in size.
“It’s a great program to put development where Rhode Islanders want to see development,” Talmage said.
Will the legislature take note this year? Attending the release event for the economic report were the House and Senate finance committee chairmen, but so far no bill has been introduced that would replenish the state historic-preservation tax credit jar.
“As advocates, we’re speaking up,” Talmage said. “What else can we do?”
