Pennsylvania’s Historic Preservation Tax Credit: Year One Recap

As the calendar flips to another Fiscal Year, I want to take a few minutes to review the first year of Pennsylvania’s Historic Preservation Tax Credit and present the first 15 projects to receive historic tax credits in Pennsylvania.

Many people in the preservation and economic development community believed that a historic tax credit program in Pennsylvania was an unattainable dream until Pennsylvania became the 30^th state in the country to offer a state historic tax credit on July 2, 2012.  As marathon-like efforts to establish this economic development tool began in 1996 under former State representative Tom Tangretti, D-Northampton and was finished by Senator Lloyd Smucker, R-Lancaster and Robert Freeman, D-Northampton, a single year to implement the program guidelines and application process seemed like a 100-yard dash!

On May 1, 2014, the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) received 34 applications for the inaugural application round of the program.  The applications were reviewed by PHMC staff to ensure that applicants owned qualified historic buildings and that proposed rehabilitation plans met the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation.  As the qualified applications far exceed the limited $3 million in available credits, DCED used a fair and balanced selection process based on a first -come, first serve basis with regional distribution to select the first round of projects.

To understand the potential economic impact of these 34 proposed projects, here is a general overview of the first round of applications:

• The applicants requested a total of $13,533,697 in tax credits for projects with the 34 projects representing an estimated $489,087,402 of construction expenditures of which will generate local and state taxes through payroll, material purchases, real estate taxes and other revenue streams that would offset the $3 million in state tax credits.
• There was broad regional distribution as all five regions submitted enough applications to utilize a full $500,000 allocation (10 in SE PA, 4 in NE PA, 8 in Central PA, 9 in SW PA and 3 in NW PA)
• Ultimately, 15 projects in 10 counties received tax credits with building types ranging from a church, schools, mid-century modern apartment complexes, Masonic hall, tobacco warehouse, shoe factory and central business district commercial buildings

Here is a list of the historic buildings that received the first $3 million in Pennsylvania’s Historic Preservation Tax Credits arranged by region:

Southeast Region

Northeast Region

Central Region

Southwest Region 

Northwest Region