Welcome to the Business Journal Archives
Search for articles below, or continue to the all new BusinessJournalDaily.com now.
Search
Kresge Building Gets Historic Preservation Tax Credits
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Kresge Building in downtown Warren is one of 23 projects across Ohio to share in $35.9 million in Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credits. Funds will be used to transform the building for use by the Tech Belt Energy Innovation Center.
Statewide, owners and applicants plan to rehabilitate 45 historic buildings in nine communities. The projects are expected to leverage more than $252 million in private investments.
“The Historic Preservation Tax Credit puts empty buildings back into the economic cycle, creating jobs through construction activities and reoccupation of the buildings,” said Christiane Schmenk, director of the Ohio Development Services Agency. “This program has saved some of the state’s most significant historic structures.”
Projects that were awarded tax credits must complete the rehabilitation work in accordance with the U.S. Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation before the credits are issued to the building owner or long-term tenant, Schmenk said.
According to a Cleveland State University study released in May 2011, $1 million in tax credits generates $8 million in construction spending, $40 million in total economic activity and nearly 400 jobs from construction and operations.
The Kresge Building was constructed in 1926 by the former S.S. Kresge Co. The project's total cost is $5,635,900, and the total tax credit is $983,750. The new tech center will function as a shared resource center and technology business incubator focused on the energy and natural resource industries. The rehabilitation will retrofit the former retail store into office and research space, meeting rooms and laboratories for technology testing and development, creating at least 80 new jobs.
The Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit program provides tax credits equal to 25% of qualified rehabilitation expenditures. To date, nine rounds of tax credits have been approved for 159 projects in 34 cities, totaling $328.4 million. The program is projected to leverage $2.1 billion in private redevelopment funding and federal tax credits. So far, 51 projects have been completed, representing nearly $600 million in total project investments, which created 4,456 construction jobs and housed 6,481 permanent jobs.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
CLICK HERE to subscribe to our twice-monthly print edition.