TERRE HAUTE —
Terre Haute has its share of historic commercial structures, many already designated in state and federal historic areas, and many left unused or underutilized.
If House Bill 1111, which has already passed the Indiana House of Representatives, passes through the Indiana Senate this month, it would provide a tax incentive for owners to put money into historic structures that have commercial value.
“It would be nice to have historic preservation funded. That has been the major drawback for people trying to do rehabilitations for quite a while,” said Jay Jones, who owns many historic buildings in 12 Points, a designated historic area on Terre Haute’s north side.
“We always have ongoing projects and any time you are spending a large amount of money to rehabilitate a building it is always nice to have a little help. A lot of time that helps attract investors too,” Jones said.
“It is just another tool in somebody’s tool belt to do an adaptive reuse from a financial standpoint. I hope they do it,” Jones said of the Indiana General Assembly, adding the current state tax credit is so underfunded “it is pointless.”
One building that could benefit right away is the 12 Points Hotel building, which houses Tilford’s 5&10 at 1279 Lafayette Ave. Jones took over Tilford’s from its namesake owner Cecil Tilford, giving the store a new look and doubling its size.
“We just have a very small thing going on in there and some extra incentives to try to do more would be great to rehabilitate that building,” Jones said.
The state preservation tax credit, if approved, would be increased to $2 million a year, from the current $450,000, for state fiscal years beginning after June 30, 2013. Investors, however, would have to spend a minimum of $25,000, up from the current $10,000, to get the tax credit. A project could receive up to 20 percent — or $400,000 — of the $2 million annual statewide preservation tax credit. That current limit is $100,000.
“When we look at incentives available to privately owned historic building owners, there really is, and I hate to say it, not much out there,” said Tommy Kleckner, director of Indiana Landmark’s Western Regional Office based in Terre Haute. “The historic tax credit program has become the single most crucial benefit available. This new bill would open more projects to a more immediate benefit. It is an attempt to fix oversights in the initial program when it was started.”
Kleckner said the Ohio Building on Ohio Street and the White Building, on the northwest corner of Fifth Street and Wabash Avenue, are examples of past projects approved for the state tax credits.
Kleckner said several buildings in the 500 block of Wabash Avenue would qualify under the proposed bill as well as buildings such as the Indiana Theatre at 633 Ohio St.
“A new owner of the Indiana Theatre, when sold, could take advantage of this for renovation,” Kleckner said.
Kleckner said the theater has long been up for sale and remains up for sale on several commercial online real estate sites. One such site, LoopNet, lists the 31,646-square-foot historic building for $699,900. The Spanish Baroque Revival structure was built in 1922.
Telephone messages were left at KAE Corp.’s Terre Haute office seeking comment from Kathy and Roger Allshire, owners of the theater.
In addition, Kleckner said other structures, such as historic houses, now used as income-producing apartments, would also qualify for the historic state credits.
“We hope, if passed, this bill would provide more immediate benefit to the owners and a greater incentive to invest in a rehabilitation of a historic structure,” Kleckner said.
Mike Ellis, a Terre Haute attorney who also owns several historic buildings in the 500 block of Wabash Avenue, said that while the increased state tax credit could be an improvement, he remains unsure of the total dollar value of the program.
“I would certainly want to look into the benefits to see what that would do for downtown redevelopment in an attempt to preserve historic buildings,” Ellis said. “Currently it is hard to justify spending money on these old buildings as much as I would like to do that,” he added.
Ellis said he thinks a “more useful benefit” would be the re-introduction of a former federal rental rehabilitation program, which provided a 50-percent match for a project with a forgivable loan over a 10-year period.
“If you put $300,000 into a project, it was matched with $300,000. You get $600,000 to work with and the matching loan is forgiven by one tenth a year, so after 10 years you have a $600,000 development of which you only had to pay half of and that was real money,” Ellis said.
Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com.
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