by Hilary Niles July 22, 2013 vtdigger.org Thirty-one projects throughout Vermont were awarded nearly $2 million in tax credits by the Downtown Development Board on Monday afternoon.
Rehabilitation of the vacant building that used to house Arthur’s Department Store, in Morrisville, is projected to cost $5.375 million. The project was awarded $233,500 in tax credits by the Downtown Development Board. Photo courtesy Agency of Commerce and Community Development.
The public financing will leverage about $16 million from other funding sources to pay for revitalization of historic buildings in 21 towns. Two proposals, in Middlebury and Richmond, were not successful.
Governor Peter Shumlin is expected to announce the awards at 11 a.m. Tuesday in Morrisville. A full list of recipient projects can be found in the document below.
Morrisville’s Union Bank Building, where Shumlin’s appearance is scheduled, received $18,750 in tax credits for $75,000 worth of improvements to the building’s brick façade.
While perhaps not typical recipients, banks are nonetheless highly involved and even crucial to the tax credit program. Recipients often sell their tax credits to banks and insurance companies, rather than save them for their own tax advantage at the end of their fiscal years.
This is especially the case with tax-exempt nonprofit organizations, which need not worry about tax liability. Chris Cochran, director of Community Planning and Revitalization for the state, explained that nonprofits may have more need for cash in order to get a project off the ground, rather than tax credits to reduce what they owe the state at the end of their fiscal years.
Aside from the financial advantage, Union Bank’s intention with its improvements was partially to preserve the historic character of its building, which was built in 1892 to house the bank and the town’s earlier library.
In keeping with the mission of the tax credit program, the bank’s application also highlighted its commitment to Morrisville, as demonstrated by its investment in the village. ‘This renovation will â ¦ spark more revitalization efforts including the revitalization of the nearby former Arthur’s building,’according to tax credit application materials.
Arthur’s Main Street Redevelopment, as that project is officially called, is a major rehabilitation project of a three-story block of buildings that once housed the iconic Arthur’s Department Store. It also won the full amount of tax credits requested: $235,000 toward an estimated $5.375 million in costs.
Morrisville, with a total of six projects receiving the downtown tax credits, is one big winner from the annual awards meted out Wednesday. Barre and Bellows Falls also won for three projects each.
The Haviland Shade Roller Building in Vergennes will be converted to 20 residential units and 450 square feet of retail space. As part of the redevelopment plan, the environmental remediation will be completed at the brownfield site. Photo courtesy Agency of Commerce and Community Development.
The Shade Roller Mill project in on Canal Street in Vergennes received the largest single award, $237,500. The Catamount School project in Bennington and the Landry Block in St. Johnsbury each brought in just under $170,000.
While the tax credits initially reduce the recipient’s state tax bills, they are designed ultimately to raise the tax base of the communities where they’re issued. A case study in Hardwick shows some property values spiking to nearly double or even more than five times their worth after renovations. The case study was conducted by the Vt. Agency of Commerce and Community Development, the same agency through which the tax credits are issued.
‘We want downtown centers to be strong and discourage development of green fields outside of town,’Cochran said. Many downtown merchants can’t afford the cost of upgrades to maintain historic buildings to current fire and accessibility codes, however.
The funding assistance ‘which must be matched to some degree by other sources ‘helps balance their decision to stay central or relocate to the outskirts of a community, Cochran said.
Transportation grants, village centers
In addition to the downtown historic tax credit awards issued Wednesday, the Downtown Development Board also awarded about $350,000 in downtown transportation grants.
White River Junction, St. Albans and Windsor each received the full grant amounts they had sought for specific projects serving their downtown areas. The remaining money, about $82,200, will be offered to Randolph for a project that didn’t quite score high enough among board members to compete for full funding.
Four applications for ‘Village Center’designations were also granted to Chester, Wallingford, East Wallingford and South Wallingford.
Communities enrolled in the village center program receive priority status when applying for state grants and other resources.