Georgia Historic Preservation Tax Credit Gets Huge Boost
Decatur Metro | May 28, 2008 | 1:07 pmOK, I’m a few days behind on this news…but to those preservation-minded individuals in the area, its huge.
Back on May 15th, Sonny signed House Bill 851, which increases the historic preservation tax credit from $5,000 per building renovation/rehabilitation project cap to a whopping $100,000 for residential properties and $300,000 for commercial. ALSO, it increases the tax credit to 25% of the total project cost for both residential and commercial. Much better than the old 10% for residential and 20% for commercial!
As always, in order to qualify the building must either be individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places or a contributing structure in a NRHP-listed historic district. To those a little gun shy about local historic districts as of late, don’t confuse a National Register District with a local historic district, as they are completely separate entities. In fact, Decatur’s MAK District is the only historic district in Decatur that is both a local historic district and a National Register district. None of the other local districts have yet to apply for NRHP status. Both of Decatur’s current National Register areas are in Oakhurst. South Candler/Agnes Scott and Winonna Park are the only National Register Districts in Decatur. To see a full list of Decatur properties on the NRHP, click here and search “GA” and “Decatur”. (Not all search results are in the city of Decatur)
Unlike a local historic district, National Register districts exist mainly to provide tax incentives to property owners, along with providing some pseudo-protection in the case that the state or federal government wants to tear down your property (to build a highway or government building, etc…)
If you already own a NRHP property and want to rehab it to receive the tax credit, the final step is getting your renovation plans approved by the National Park Service.
Hopefully this mammoth increase will not only motivate residents to rehab their historic properties, but also create a few more NRHP districts in the area, which get residents learning more about the unique heritage of their neighborhoods.
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This is great news!
Hopefully those who supported the failed historic district effort in Oakhurst will use this legislation as a tool to help preserve truly historic properties in Oakhurst. As we said all along, we support voluntary preservation efforts and incentives for people to restore and improve their older homes.
I will help spread the word by posting it on the ONE Oakhurst blog.
Awesome! Thanks One!
Just note that those who live outside of Winonna Park and MAK (and aren’t individually on the list) will first have to get themselves on the National Register (either as a district or individually) before qualifying for the credits.
South Candler St from College to almost Midway is also a National Register District and in fact was the first such District in Decatur.
Thanks Steve. I was confusing the South Candler/Agnes Scott area with MAK. I’ll revise the original post accordingly.
I agree with ONE. This is great! Maybe the Oakhurst Neighborhood Association will change it’s stance on the NRHP listing now that the incentives are more substantial and now that there is a new president? This would be a great project for the ONA. Projects like getting Oakhurst on the NRHP listing could really turn the ONA around and maybe get the attendance of the ONA meetings back up. We need something like this especially now that it appears that the market for new large homes in Oakhurst is picking up.
How far along did the NRHP nomination get the last time? Is there much left to be done?
As I understand it all the work has been done, it just needs to be submitted. I think the only hurdle (if it was a hurdle at all) was that the ONA didn’t support it and when I say the ONA I mean the president of the ONA.
Well, we don’t need to get into specific reasons about why he was opposed…I’ll just point out that it sounds like those on both sides of the Historic District issue are in favor of the NRHP nomination. It probably just needs a little updating (wasn’t it done around 1999?) and then it can be sent off to the state preservation office.
Sounds like a great (and relatively easy) opportunity for Oakhurst. If and when you decide to move forward, please let me know. I’ll be happy to give you all the exposure I can.