SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The Preservation League of New York State has named the federal historic tax credit to its list of “Seven to Save,” or what it considers New York’s most threatened historic resources.
The tax credit is “at risk of elimination” as part of an effort to cut federal spending, the organization said.
The Preservation League outlined its concern during a Tuesday news conference at the Hotel Syracuse.
The Preservation League and CenterState CEO want the federal government to continue and enhance the historic tax credit, Jay DiLorenzo, president of the Preservation League of New York State, said in his remarks during the event.
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.”
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.
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.”
The Albany–based 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.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com