Editor’s Note: I just want to say that I love historic buildings and historic downtown areas like Old Town Winchester. Beautiful architecture and historic monuments can be priceless. This post should not be interpreted as “anti-rehabilitation of historic buildings” or “anti-preservation of American history.” What I did not understand until recently is what goes on behind the scenes of historic building rehabilitations and renovations. I did not know how much projects like that really cost, and I never knew who paid for them. I also never fully appreciated the expanding Historic zone and what that means for property owners and taxpayers. This article is a compilation of what I have learned about the use of historic tax credits in the City of Winchester.
Background information and how it all starts
Let’s say someone owns a house next door to historic Winchester and maintains it well. The property will appraise at a much higher value than if the building were permitted to fall into disrepair. The homeowner does not get tax credits for his continual upkeep on the house, nor does he get a break on his income taxes for maintaining his home. In fact, should he make improvements, he will have to pay higher property taxes.
His neighbor, on the other hand, lives in the Historic district and cannot afford to maintain or chooses not to maintain his historic house. The home falls into disrepair and is basically not suitable for habitation. The tax reassessment on his home will be lower. Unlike antique, well-kept cars that are exempt from higher property taxes in the City, antique well-kept homes have to pay the same property taxes as everyone else unless they qualify for real estate tax abatement. In fact, they have to pay the same tax rates while having to deal with extremely restrictive zoning ordinances and powerful local committees like the Board of Architectual Review.
Finally, the delapidated old house becomes a public nuisance due to vermin infestations and an unstable structure. The City labels it a “blight” and notifies the owner that he must submit a suitable spot blight abatement plan within a certain amount of time. The owner cannot afford to perform the necessary repairs or he chooses not to. Eventually it is likely that the property owner will either sell the property or lose it to the government who condemns the property and acquires it through eminent domain.
Sometimes it is cheaper and faster to simply demolish the old structure and build something completely new rather than attempt to renovate or rebuild using the old materials. In fact, it is probably always cheaper and faster. But suppose the government really doesn’t want to demolish the house. Let’s say it is very special to local preservationists and historians. Maybe it housed a famous person. Whatever the reason, the local government tries everything in its power to prevent demolition of the building.
This means that the more expensive route must be taken which involves acquiring the property and then rebuilding and renovating the house. Someone has to pay for it, and in order for someone in the private sector to take on a project of such magnitude and risk, typically the rewards need to be pretty lucrative. When purchasing a building in such bad disrepair, who knows what you might find as you sift through the mess, right? The investor must have the financial capital to pay a construction company to perform the work. When it comes to private sector work, most construction companies have learned that it is wisest to ask for certain costs to be paid upfront just in case the investor files for bankruptcy before the job is completed. Normally in the private sector, people would not be interested in these expensive projects except perhaps for reasons of philanthropy or personal interest in historic buildings and such. So, how do you attract someone to participate in such a project? Money.
Where the money comes from is a little complicated. We start with the government who doesn’t have the cash on hand to fund such projects but really wants to see them happen. Why they want to see them happen is also complicated–generally, though, it comes down to lobbyists. But the government has a pretty steady cash flow from income taxes, especially taxes paid by large, well-established corporations that likely aren’t going anywhere. What if the government can promise a corporation that if they rehabilitate an historic building, they won’t have to pay their $500,000 yearly income tax bill for the next 10 years? That is a lot of money the corporation gets to keep in their pockets…and the corporation will also have a valuable piece of property when it is all said and done.
But the average property owner in Frederick County is never going to pay $5M in income taxes, therefore such tax credits would not be worth the upfront cost of rehabilitating an historic building. This is where consulting firms like Brian Wishneff & Associates come in to find the big third-party investors who can actually use $5M in tax credits. As was previously discussed in the article on the Snapp Foundry building, John Willingham’s partnership was able to pay for the construction on the property with cash received by selling millions of dollars in tax credits. And until last month’s important court ruling, such a transaction was not taxed by the government as a sale.
The tax credit does not equal government spending per se, but it does mean reduced government revenue. The people directly profiting from this program are the developers and third-party investors. If government spending is not adjusted to account for the tax credits, the government will have to go further into debt or raise revenues elsewhere (ie. taxation). The average Virginia citizen is not eligible for tax credits for maintaining or rehabilitating his home or business (unless he plans on spending gobs of money “green-ifying” the property.) The average Virginia citizen is not eligible for real estate tax abatement. Historic tax credit programs are not designed for the average person. It is a market geared toward huge corporations and wealthy developers, which is understandable considering the cost to rehabilitate old buildings is very high.
Putting historic tax credits to work in Winchester
In April The Winchester Star featured an article celebrating $86.5M of private investment in the City of Winchester. (The number touted was $100M when adjusted for inflation.) What it failed to reveal was the amount of tax credits funnelled into the City for rehabilitation costs, nor did it mention the loss of real estate tax revenue thanks to the City’s tax abatement program. The idea behind the tax abatement program (which is like a local form of tax credits) is that the City will see a return on its initial investment (the loss of potential real estate tax revenue) through the revitalization of the area that is so dependent on the rehabilitation of that particular building. In other words, by giving up five years of real estate tax revenues now, the City will be so markedly improved by the rehabilitated property that new tax revenues in the form of increased sales and higher area assessment values will more than make up for the initial cost of abated real estate taxes.
But are the benefits of these rehabilitation projects worth the cost? Can monetary value be placed on aesthetics and historicity? Does the City really see a return on its investment? Do the tax credits encourage extravagance rather than efficiency and innovation? These are questions not answered by this post, but hopefully the information within it can help readers come to rational conclusions.
9 Court Square
According to Karen Helm, executive director of the Old Town Development Board, the watershed project for downtown investment seems to have been Farmers & Merchants Bank-Winchester’s renovation of seven buildings at 9 Court Square in the mid-1990s (The Winchester Star, April 12, 2011). The “Wilbur M. Feltner Building,” located just south of the Old Courthouse Civil War Museum, was dedicated in honor of the F&M Bank President and current trustee emeritus at Shenandoah University.
In 1994, Mr. Feltner announced plans to renovate the property.
According to a FY 1995 SEC document, on April 11, 1995, F&M Bank-Winchester acquired from the County of Frederick property located at 9 Court Square consisting of land and buildings in exchange for 2 parking lots of equal value:
In order to expand our downtown F&M Bank-Winchester operation, we traded property with Frederick County, Virginia, and acquired the historic Frederick County Court Square offices. These offices are now being renovated, along with a city parking lot located on North Cameron Street. We also acquired the vacant Solenberger Hardware Store building and lot. This lot, along with the city parking lot, is being made into an employee parking lot.
In the same document, a letter written to shareholders, customers and friends stated:
The land transactions that we had with Winchester and Frederick County are now complete and the renovation of 9 Court Square, which is due for completion around Labor Day, will afford us the additional space we need since we have outgrown most of our banking departments. We anticipate moving F&M Bank-Winchester’s Trust and Credit Card Departments to the new location.
The project was completed in 1997. As reported by The Winchester Star and Don Swofford FAIA, historic tax credits played a key part in the rehabilitation project of 9 Court Square, which is now valued at $3.2M. How big of a part remains to be seen–it probably requires a few phone calls. Maybe later.
On April 1, 2011, the Feltner Community Foundation announced that it would donate the 9 Court Square buildings to Shenandoah University, making it the University’s largest-ever property gift. For more information, see Shenandoah University’s article here.
Lewis Jones Knitting Mill Building
The former knitting mill building at 126 North Kent Street is now the corporate headquarters for OakCrest Builders Inc. and OakCrest Properties LLC.
In August 2005, OakCrest Cos. owner James Vickers purchased the property for $1.1M. The project development began in October 2005 and was completed in February 2007. According to Mr. Vickers, the cost of the renovation including land acquisition was $6.5M. OakCrest received $2.5M in tax credits, according to an article in The Winchester Star (Erica Bush, April 23, 2007). Frazier Associates provided full architectual services and assistance with the historic tax credit applications for the financing part of the project. Howard Shockey & Sons was the general contractor.
According to the City’s Revitalization Marketing presentation, the old assessed value of the property was $574,700 and after a $4.2M renovation, the new assessed value is $2,756,400. Along with historic rehabilitation tax credit incentives, the EDA provided below-market land conveyance.
Handley High School
The school recently went through a massive renovation project that cost about $72M. Depending on the source you look at, the project received anywhere from $2M to $5M to $10M in historic tax credits.
On November 24, 2010, Danielle Nadler reported for The Winchester Star that according to Winchester Public Schools Executive Director Kevin McKew, the project received $2,026,279 in historic tax credit funding. (This may refer to the cash received from the sale of tax credits to third-party investors.)
According to a 2010 convention document posted by the National Federation of Urban-Suburban School District (Charlottesville, Virginia), the project received $5M in historic tax credits.
TV3 Winchester reported the same number on October 4, 2009:
The project was funded through municipal bonds provided by the city and $5 million in historic tax credits.
However, according to an article in The Roanoake Times on October 3, 2010, that number was much higher:
In 1895, Judge John Handley left $1.6 million in a trust to the city of Winchester for education. John Handley High School opened with money from that gift almost 30 years later.
The historic school just completed a $72 million renovation and expansion project following a capital campaign, [Montgomery County school board member Joe] Ivers found in his research.
The school district hired a director of fundraising for three years to tap into its alumni base. It collected about $8 million, said Winchester schools Superintendent Ricky Leonard.
Mostly, the project was funded with $50 million from a bond on the city that required a property tax increase and about $10 million in historic tax credits.
The general contractor for the project was Howard Shockey & Sons.
George Washington Hotel
Like the Snapp Foundry rehabilitation, this project deserves an article all to its own. Maybe one will be posted soon. In the meantime, here is a summary…
According to the City of Winchester, the hotel renovations were completed in April 2008 for a total cost of $20.5M. The general contractor was G.W. Development LLC. For at least the next five years, if not ten years, the hotel’s increase in assessed value ($8.3M) will be exempt from real estate taxation. To help finance the project, developers received historic tax credits, New Market Tax Credits, and an EDA Business Development Grant.
A simple phone call to the Virginia Department of Historic Resources revealed that $5.3M in state historic tax credits were issued to the developer.
Based on information from the National Park Service (which involved a more complex phone call adventure), the final submitted rehabilitation cost eligible for the federal historic tax credit program was $21,542,325. The program issues tax credits for 20% of the cost, so that means the project received about $4.5M in federal historic tax credits.
According to the US Department of the Treasury, the New Market Tax Credit Program permits “individual and corporate investors to receive a tax credit against their Federal income tax return in exchange for making equity investments in specialized financial institutions called Community Development Entities (CDEs).”
The credit totals 39 percent of the original investment amount and is claimed over a period of seven years (five percent for each of the first three years, and six percent for each of the remaining four years). The investment in the CDE cannot be redeemed before the end of the seven-year period.
In turn, CDEs make loans and equity investments in commercial enterprises located in qualifying low-income rural and urban census tracts (Source):
“It’s a shallow subsidy if you just take it in the simplest form,” explains Joseph Flatley, CEO of Massachusetts Housing Investment Corp., which has closed several deals in which NMTCs were applied. “But it can be used within a leverage structure that can cover a significant portion of the project. For example, if you have a project with a million-dollar gap between what it costs and what it’s worth, NMTCs can fill that gap by 25 percent. So it’s a valuable tool.”
How many New Market Tax Credits were actually allotted for the project is not clear. Since the process is much more complicated and involves additional parties, an accurate figure is difficult to come up with at this point.
In addition, the City gives up a minimum of $280K in real estate tax revenue. That very conservative estimate is based on the 2009 property tax rate and 5 years of real estate tax abatement. It is not clear how long the real estate tax abatement lasts for the property. It is also not clear what the cost of the EDA Business Development Grant was for the project.
Lovett Building
The Lovett Building was built in 1900 and is located at 163-165 North Loudoun Street. Renovations on the building were completed in April 2010 by OakCrest Companies. The Lovett Building’s first floor now has office/retail space and one apartment, and the second and third floors have apartments. They are beautiful but a bit pricey: $900 per month for a one bedroom, one bathroom, 705 sq. ft. apartment.
According to Brian Wishneff & Associates’ official website, the cost for the Lovett Building project was $1M and the sale of historic tax credits reaped $300K.
James Heffernan reported for The Northern Virginia Daily (March 14, 2009):
OakCrest purchased the property in July 2005 for $525,000, and will put an estimated $600,000 into renovations.
The project will also take advantage of approximately $240,000 in historic tax credits through the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.
It is odd how OakCrest purchased the property for $525,000 and yet the City of Winchester’s “old assessed value” was $203,700. Anyway, according to the City, the new assessed value is $602,900 and the renovation and related costs were $295,000. It is not clear why the City’s numbers are not matching up to the numbers from the Wishneff group or The Northern Virginia Daily article.
In addition to the historic tax credits, this property became eligible for the City’s property tax abatement program.
Snapp Foundry Building
On June 29, the Winchester Watchdog wrote an exhaustive article, which has been recently updated, regarding the rehabilitation of the old Snapp Foundry building on North Cameron Street. The general contractor for the project was Howard Shockey & Sons.
To summarize, approximately $10M in tax credits went into the project. The property’s $2.5M increase in value is exempt from real estate taxes for a number of years. The City has a contract with the property owner for 15 years, paying $40,000 per month in rent for the Department of Social Services office.
Solenberger Co. Building
Prior to renovations, the City assessed the 142 North Loudoun Street property’s value at $372,600. According to an article in The Winchester Star by Vic Bradshaw (July 16, 2010), “Old Town Investments bought the [former Jno. S. Solenberger Co. hardware store] building in 2004 for $365,000, according to city records.”
Then, in July 2010, Shenandoah University paid $550,000 to Old Town Investments LLC for the property.
On February 24, 2011, Brian Wishneff & Associates reported that they had been “engaged by Shenandoah University to manage the tax credit process for its renovation of the historic Solenberger Building in downtown Winchester, Virginia into graduate student housing.” They list the sponsoring group as Shenandoah University and the estimated cost of the project at $3.5M. Apparently $1.3M in cash payment from the sale of historic tax credits has been received.
Howard Shockey & Sons Inc. was selected as the building contractor for the project. According to Shockey project manager Steve Knight, as reported by the Martinsburg Journal, the project would cost in excess of $2M and the University housing would be expected to open in August 2011.
In addition to historic tax credits, the property is eligible for the City’s property tax abatement program.
And last but not least…
Old Taylor Hotel
A full article about the hotel’s progress is available (click here), but this is an excerpt of the latest developments:
In January 2011, talks begin between City Council and Erik Wishneff regarding options for financing the renovation.
In March, according to The Winchester Star, a public-private partnership is proposed between the EDA and Taylor Hotel LLC for the $3.7M hotel rehabilitation project (which includes land acquisition) that could be partially funded with Community Development Block Grant money (at least $890,000 of it). Translation: taxes. The alternative–demolition–is estimated to cost $600,000.
After a closed meeting during their March 22 work session, City Council votes to forward an ordinance “to authorize the City Manager to execute the proposed agreement with the Winchester EDA for the redevelopment of the Taylor Hotel property and to take necessary acction to secure the I08 Loan in furtherance thereof, and allocate additional funding in the amount of $650,000.00 as a grant to the EDA to be used for the redevelopment of the property.” (Councilor John Willingham abstained from voting.)
According to The Winchester Star, the partnership would lease the pavilion and open space (what is currently the middle of the building) to the city for $42,500 annually until the commercial loan to be obtained to finance the property’s redevelopment is paid down to $600,000. Then the leased area would be conveyed to the city. The city would have to provide a $650,000 grant to the EDA for the project which would likely come out of reserve funds. Also, the partnership “will receive a Vacant Business Development Grant from the EDA – a refund of a portion of its tax payments. That money will be used to reduce debt.”
According to a March 26 article in The Winchester Star:
The $3.7 million project cost includes property acquisition, and [Jim] Deskins [executive director of the EDA and economic redevelopment director for the city] said that price might be renegotiated because the project has been scaled down from Wishneff’s initial plans.
The Wishneff group, which could not be reached for comment Friday, would provide $1.15 million for the project.
The city’s CDBG money would add another $1 million, and the city government would provide a $650,000 loan to the EDA to be used for the development.
The remaining $900,000 would be borrowed by a partnership to be formed between the EDA and the Wishneff group, with each side responsible for half of the loan.
According to the agreement, the Wishneff group would be responsible for any cost overruns.
On April 12, 2011, City Council hears the first reading of O-2011-11. According to City Attorney Anthony Williams, minor adjustments were made to this ordinance.
In May, City Council votes 8-0 to approve the public-private partnership for the rehabilitation of the Taylor Hotel. On May 16, The Northern Virginia Daily reported that according to the agreement “the developer, Wishneff LLC, and the EDA each will hold a 50 percent stake in the project.”
On June 30, The Winchester Star reports on another company expressing interest in purchasing the property should the Wishneff-EDA deal fall through:
Harry Gormas and Hunter Hurt, the architect who previously designed plans for the building for Lafayette Plaza LLC, have submitted a letter of intent to buy the historic structure if that deal fails and said they’re prepared to submit a backup contract.
Mr. Hurt is a member of the Board of Zoning Appeals and a past member of the Board of Architectural Review.
Presently, the Brian Wishneff & Associates website lists the Taylor Hotel as a current project with an estimated cost of $8M and a cash payment from sale of HTC of $2M. The website still lists Lafayette Square LLC as the sponsoring group.
So far it appears that at least $1.65M in tax dollars will go to the project — $1M in Community Development Block Grant money and a $650,000 loan from the City to eventually be repaid by the EDA. The EDA will also be responsible for repaying $450,000 in debt towards the project. Oddly enough, it appears that to pay down the loan amount, the EDA will issue the partnership (between Taylor Hotel LLC and the EDA) tax refunds. Perhaps that is an inaccurate interpretation, but the financing of the project is still as clear as mud.
Preservation through prosperity–is it real?
The Virginia Department of Historic Resources has a lovely PDF file titled “Prosperity through Preservation” that no doubt was incorporated on the local tour conducted this spring. The claim that rehabilitation projects create jobs resonates throughout the country. For example, Renee Kuhlman wrote for Forum News (April 2010):
Preservationists have made the point for years that rehabilitation projects create jobs at the local level and that state tax incentives make these projects economically feasible. Now new studies are supporting their arguments and lawmakers are paying attention.
“Historic preservation projects create jobs, especially in the manufacturing, retail trade, services, and construction sectors. In FY 2008, projects approved for federal tax credits had average budgets of $4.58 million and generated 55 jobs each,” claims the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.
Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, wrote in 2009:
Nationally, there is overwhelming evidence that rehab tax credits are job-creators. Studying projects in Missouri, economist Donovan D. Rypkema found that 6.3 more jobs are created through rehabilitation than through manufacturing. Rutgers University also examined the impact of Missouri’s historic preservation tax credits and found that between 1998 and 2001, the state garnered 6,871 jobs and $60 million in tax revenues (including $25 million in state and local taxes) — an astonishing four-to-one return on the state’s investment in the tax-credit program.
But rehabilitation is typically not cost effective which is why most major historic building projects require massive tax credit incentives to encourage private investment. Without those tax credits, private investors would likely have put their money into some other venture, creating jobs there instead. What these folks are claiming, however, is that job numbers are created by tax credits rather than just shifted from one sector of the economy to another.
One can’t help but wonder if this isn’t all some fabulous example of the broken window fallacy. The idea that neglected, delapidated properties can be used to “create jobs” and boost the economy is one that stands on a rather shaky foundation. Based on this reasoning, it is better for the economy if someone allows their building to fall into ruin so that it can go through a massive, expensive renovation rather than spend the considerably smaller amount of money just maintaining the property every year. And common sense tells us that this simply isn’t true.