Join us in Ironton

August 13 – 10am to 3pm

Lawrence County Workforce Development Center

Everything you need to know to make Rehabilitation
Tax Credits work for your historic building!

• Learn about federal & state historic tax credits
• Understand the submission, review & approval process
• Explore finance options
• Panel presenters discuss architectural, legal & accounting considerations
• Take advantage of one-on-one consultations to get expert advice for your project
• The workshop ends with a tour of the Berg Building led by Ralph Kline & Scott Moore

Featured Speakers include:
Ralph Kline
Scott Moore
Curt Anderson
Jon Moorehead
Mark Lundine
Judy Kitchen

Register Here

The Round 4 approved submissions include the following projects:

Akron – The Kaiser Building

Berea – First Congregational Church

Cincinnati – The Federal Reserve Building

Cincinnati – The Metropole Building

Cleveland – The Schofield Building

Cleveland – The Union Building

Columbus – The Wonder Bread Building

Lima – The Metropolitan Block

Marietta – Armory Square

Sandusky – The Feick Building

Toledo – The Berdan Building

Toledo – The Hannons Block

Youngstown – The Federal Building

Heritage Ohio continues to advocate for the renewal of the Ohio Historic Tax Credit, as the best tool available to rehabilitate Ohio cities, towns, and villages.  This program is credited with creating in excess of 10,000 construction jobs.  And rejuvenating Ohio will provide a better future to retain our citizens and attract new citizens and businesses that want to locate here.

Tax Credit Workshop – July 23, 2010

10am – 3pm at Ryan’s Tavern, 241 High Street, Hamilton Ohio

Everything you need to know to use
Tax Credits on your historic building rehabilitation!

• Learn about federal & state historic tax credits
• Understand the submission, review & approval process
• Explore finance options
• Panel presenters discuss architectural, legal & accounting considerations
• Take advantage of one-on-one consultations to get expert advice for your project
• The workshop ends with a tour of the Mercantile Block led by Steve Coon

Featured Speakers include:
Steve Coon                      Coon Restoration & Sealants
Duane Van Dyke           Van Dyke Architects
Mark Lundine                Ohio Department of Development
Judy Kitchen                 Ohio Historic Preservation Office
Jonathan Sandvick      Sandvick Architects
Don Longwell                 Longwell Legal
and more!

Click Here to Register!

• The preservation and continued use of more historic schools in the state
• With 20% tax credit eligibility, school rehabilitation projects would be put on a more competitive footing with new construction projects, demonstrating a much better economic value for the taxpayers in the school district
• School rehabilitation (as opposed to new construction) is a more labor intensive practice, and $1 million spent to rehabilitate schools creates more jobs than $1 million spent to construct new schools
• School rehabilitation demonstrates a school district’s conviction to invest in and maintain its most valuable assets, as opposed to wasting its existing assets by demolishing them
• School rehabilitation shows a school district’s savvy in understanding & teaching its students that green practices extend far beyond placing recycling bins in the school cafeteria (indeed, preserving historic schools demonstrates perhaps the ultimate level of environmental responsibility)  

Accountants Novogradac & Company LLP maintain a web site you can access to keep up-to-date on the latest legislation involving a host of different tax credit incentives that affect historic buildings. You can access their tax credit information here.

A brief fact sheet outlining the need and reasoning behind amending current tax legislation is included here.

We’ll continue to keep you updated on the status of this legislation as we learn more.

The historic Clarendon Hotel awaits its opportunity to shine once again as a downtown hotel destination in St Clairsville.

We finished up our fourth of five (with a late addition in Warren later this month) 2009 tax credit workshops in St Clairsville earlier this week. Heritage Ohio has offered workshops that focus not only on Ohio’s 25% state tax credit and the 20% federal rehab tax credit (and the state staff that administers these programs), but also introducing building owners to the experts—architects, bankers, accountants—who can guide building owners through a sometimes daunting process of building redevelopment.

Dennis Bigler, with the City of St Clairsville, shared a particularly inspirational story about the rebirth of the Clarendon Hotel, a downtown landmark across from the courthouse. The Clarendon, built as a three-story masonry hotel in 1890, had undergone a long period of decline before the city stepped in to take an active role in its redevelopment. Dennis gave attendees a behind-the-scenes tour of the building, showing how the city has been able to preserve important architectural elements while meeting code requirements (thanks to the city’s partnership with Chambers Murphy & Burge, architects who specialize in the rehab of historic buildings).

If all goes according to plan, the Clarendon will soon welcome visitors to Belmont County with top-notch downtown accommodations.
It was a pleasure to be back in Belmont County, and as a grad of Belmont Tech’s excellent Building Preservation/Restoration program, located in St Clairsville, it was great to see Building Preservation students attending the tax credit workshop, and a pleasure to meet the program’s new faculty member, Jeff MacDonald. Jeff joins Dave Mertz (one of our Heritage Ohio Board of Trustees), leading one of the premiere college programs in the country offering a hands-on preservation curriculum. Jeff hails from Montana, where he worked for the Montana Heritage Preservation Commission, leading the conservation team preserving gold rush era buildings in Virginia City and Nevada City. Jeff has a wealth of preservation experience gathered from different perspectives, and that background should serve him well in teaching Belmont students how to properly restore and rehab historic buildings.

After 20 years at the helm, Dave is still going strong leading Belmont’s program, but it’s always good to reinvigorate a program with the fresh perspectives and ideas that new staff brings.

Introduced by Senator Kirk Schuring (Canton) two sets of statutory amendments will serve as a national model for spurring HTC-related development:

• Special allocation of tax credits
• Ohio HTC loan guarantee program

The Historic Tax Credit Program is Good for Ohio

Ohio’s Historic Tax Credit programs create interesting places to work, live and play for the creative class and all Ohioans:

• Approved HTC projects represent over $1 billion in construction costs, generating hundreds of millions in increased State and local taxes.
• Tax credits are not issued until after project completion, but significant tax revenues are generated as soon as construction begins.
• For each $1.00 of Ohio HTC, $5.44 of private funding and federal tax credits are expected to be leveraged. (ODOD’s Ohio HTC Program 2008 Annual Report)

Heritage Ohio salutes our board members, our volunteers, Senator Kirk Schuring and Governor Strickland for their dedication to Ohio’s cultural heritage and economic well-being!

Have questions about Ohio’s Historic Preservation Tax Credits? Contact our offices today!

“The Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit program has already shown that it creates local jobs, spurs economic development by leveraging private sector investment, and revitalizes important symbols of Ohio’s history,” said Patt-McDaniel. “The program is an excellent economic stimulus tool for Ohio and we expect the next application period will increase the significant impact this program is having across the state.”

The Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit program is part of the $1.57 billion Ohio Bipartisan Job Stimulus Plan, which immediately creates new jobs while laying the foundation for future economic prosperity. In the Job Stimulus Plan $120 million was set aside for Historic Preservation Tax Credits. In October 2008, 48 applicants were approved for a total of $78.2 million in tax credits. The remaining $41.8 million in tax credits from the Ohio Bipartisan Job Stimulus Plan will be available during the new application period.

The Ohio Department of Development, in partnership with the Ohio Historical Society and Ohio Department of Taxation, have made significant improvements to the application process to better meet the needs of historic rehabilitation partners throughout the state.  Improvements include:

• Dividing the year-long application period into two six-month rounds to provide applicants with faster application determinations, helping applicants secure additional financing more quickly and allowing projects to begin construction sooner. The following dates will serve as rounds for the application periods for fiscal year 2010:

Round 3 (July 1, 2009 – December 31, 2009)
Application Submission Window: July 1 – September 30, 2009
Application Review Period: October 1 – November 30, 2009
Approved Applicants Announced by: December 30, 2009
Round 4 (January 1, 2010 – June 30, 2010)
Application Submission Window: January 4  – March 31, 2010
Application Review Period: April 1– May 31, 2010
Approved Applicants Announced by: June 30, 2010

• Expediting tax credit approvals by making the remaining stimulus funding for fiscal year 2010 (currently $17.5 million) available in Round 3 (July 1 through December 31, 2009) and the remaining stimulus funding for fiscal year 2011 (currently $24.2 million) in Round 4 (January 1 through June 30, 2010).
• Updated scoring criteria that measures projects’ potential economic impact and regional distributive balance of the credits throughout the state in a more comprehensive and easily understandable fashion.
• New program policies and updated administrative rules will be published before the beginning of the application period to better clarify the detailed processes and procedures. These documents will provide applicants with clear, transparent, and predictable guidelines for the program. A public stakeholder review meeting will be scheduled to solicit any public input to the administrative code changes prior to the beginning of the application period.

To get a better understanding of how the Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit program works, add your email to our newsletter list. We’ll be offering four tax credit workshops this fall. Stay tuned for details!