Historic preservation in declining city neighbourhoods: Analysing rehabilitation tax credit investments in six US cities

Abstract

Historic preservation is common practice across the world, including in US cities. At the same time, population decline, economic distress and vacancy prevalent in declining cities, also known as legacy, shrinking or post-industrial cities, creates a pressing threat to a vast array of urban historic buildings. In the USA, recent planning and policy emphasises strategic demolition and/or targeting resources in potentially viable neighbourhoods, with little attention paid to historic preservation. To fill this gap, we use a comparative case study of federal historic rehabilitation tax credit (RTC) investments from 2000 to 2010 across the neighbourhoods of six legacy cities: Baltimore, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Providence, Richmond and St. Louis. This is the first study to use disaggregated, longitudinal RTC data to analyse investment at the neighbourhood scale. We use the Hirschman-Herfindahl Index to evaluate investment concentration and US Census 2000 data to characterise neighbourhoods where developers chose to undertake RTC projects. The findings show that RTC investments occurred across a wide range of places, including very lowand low-income neighbourhoods, and produced both market-rate and affordable housing across each city's neighbourhoods. The findings indicate that preservation occurs across a wide range of legacy city neighbourhoods and inform urban planners and policymakers about locations where the private sector is willing to invest with favourable financing.

From the State to the Shareholder: Rent and the Production of Shareholder Value in Real Estate

“…Yet, evidence demonstrates that these “social goods” are also a catalyst for gentrification (Smith ). Recent findings show that across very low‐income and low‐income neighbourhoods in six post‐industrial cities, the historic tax credit produced market‐rate units five‐to‐one over low‐income apartments (Ryberg‐Webster and Kinahan ). In a similar study, Kinahan () found historic tax credit projects correlated to a significant increase in the median household income in neighbourhoods where the redevelopment is located.…”

“…Conducting research into tax credit markets is far from straightforward. As noted by other historic tax credit researchers (Ryberg‐Webster and Kinanhan ), the federal historic tax credit database is not publicly accessible and must be obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request to the National Park Service. Further, the agency within the National Park Service who administers the credit, Technical Preservation Services, does not keep record of who is awarded the credit.…”

From Apple to Orange: Narratives of Small City Migration and Settlement among the Urban Middle Class

“…Newburgh’s story is a common one for old industrial cities in the twentieth century, including small ones (see Flad and Griffen 2009; Mele 2017; Norman 2013). These places are often called “legacy cities” (Ryberg-Webster and Kinahan 2017), in search of a new economic foundation to replace manufacturing. Some have mostly recovered from deindustrialization, such as Portland, Maine (Lees 2003b).…”

Including Preservation in Planning

“…Another example is Atlanta (GA): The city has focused on market-driven preservation through heritage tourism (Eskew, 2009). Moreover, since the 1970s, two main programs have spurred the connection with revitalization: the tax credit for the rehabilitation of historic districts (Ryberg-Webster, 2015;Ryberg-Webster & Kinahan, 2017) and the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Main Street program, designed to improve downtowns (Robertson, 2004).…”