SYRACUSE — CenterState CEO is joining the Preservation League of New York State in pushing Congress to renew and enhance the federal historic tax credit, which some lawmakers have targeted for elimination. The credit, which economic developers see as a tool in revitalization projects, is “at risk of elimination” as part of an effort to […]
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SYRACUSE — CenterState CEO is joining the Preservation League of New York State in pushing Congress to renew and enhance the federal historic tax credit, which some lawmakers have targeted for elimination.
The credit, which economic developers see as a tool in revitalization projects, is “at risk of elimination” as part of an effort to cut federal spending, the organizations said in a news release.
The Preservation League of New York State has named the federal historic tax credit to its list of “Seven to Save,” a group of “endangered properties” it considers New York’s most threatened historic resources.
That’s according to Jay DiLorenzo, president of the Preservation League of New York State, who spoke as the organization outlined its concern during an Aug. 26 news conference at the historic Hotel Syracuse property.
The 90-year-old facility is targeted for a redevelopment project that would include historic tax credits in the financing.
“Generally, this is a list reserved for New York state’s most endangered and threatened properties but this year, we really felt that an exception was warranted due to the impact that the federal rehabilitation tax credit has on so many of New York’s historic buildings, historic downtowns, and historic Main Streets,” said DiLorenzo.
The Preservation League and CenterState CEO want the federal government to continue and enhance the historic tax credit, said DiLorenzo.
The Preservation League is citing “… the importance of this program and the threat that it’s now facing in Washington from a number … of people in Congress who feel that it should be abolished,” said DiLorenzo.
DiLorenzo called it a “very critical economic-development tool for New York state.”
“What we’re saying is the continuation and enhancement of this program is a public-policy priority for the [Preservation] League,” said DiLorenzo.
The Preservation League is New York’s statewide, nonprofit historic-preservation organization, which works statewide to promote historic preservation as a tool to revitalize neighborhoods and downtowns, and to stimulate economic activity and private reinvestment, and to save some of the “most special and meaningful places” in our communities, according to DiLorenzo.
Legislation
The Preservation League wants Congress to adopt the Creating American Prosperity through Preservation Act (CAPP). U.S. Senators Charles Schumer (D–N.Y.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D–N.Y.) are co-sponsors of the CAPP legislation.
U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer (D–Ore) will introduce similar legislation in the House of Representatives in September, U.S. Representative Daniel Maffei (D–DeWitt) said in his remarks during the event at the Hotel Syracuse.
Maffei intends to co-sponsor the proposal, he said, noting that “tax reform [proponents have] mentioned this as being on the chopping block.”
A tax-reform discussion draft that U.S. Representative Dave Camp (R–Mich), chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee, released “contained language to repeal the credit,” according to the website of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
If approved, the CAPP Act proposal would “greatly enhance” the federal rehabilitation tax-credit program, making it available to more New Yorkers, said DiLorenzo.
“… particularly those who are not only restoring landmark properties like the Hotel Syracuse but also smaller, mixed-use buildings,” he added.
Edward Riley, lead developer for the Hotel Syracuse, said without the tax credits, the project “wouldn’t be possible.”
“It’s just that simple,” he added during his remarks.
Riley is the managing member of the Syracuse Community Hotel Restoration Company I, LLC.
“The rehabilitation tax credits allow us to leverage the private financing … asking for less direct taxpayer subsidies and ensuring that we have the funds to properly restore this building and get it back,” said Riley.
Regional impact
Cities like those located in upstate New York are “perfectly positioned” to take advantage of this federal historic tax credit, Robert Simpson, president and CEO of CenterState CEO, said in his remarks to open the Aug. 26 event.
“… which is why 70 percent of all the applications that go to the federal government from New York state, are coming from upstate New York, so this is an incredibly valuable tool,” said Simpson.
In the last decade, $163 million in rehabilitation projects have taken advantage of the federal credit in the 12-county area that CenterState CEO serves, Simpson said.
CenterState CEO is the region’s primary economic-development organization.
“We estimate there’s probably some $20 million of projects alone that are pending … and that does not include the redevelopment of the [Hotel Syracuse],” Simpson added.
The “reality” is that in the past decade, more than $2.7 billion in historic-rehabilitation work has happened in New York as a direct result of the federal historic preservation tax credit, Simpson said.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com