Did You Know, part 2: A Focus on Policy & Advocacy

November 16, 2022

The B&M Baked Bean Factory

Interior view of Fort Gorges

 As an organization that’s been around for nearly 60 years, we are involved in a lot of different things, and we want to make sure you know the full scope of what we do.

We are the only dedicated nonprofit devoted to the preservation of this area’s sense of place, our built environment, and our neighborhoods.

What does this mean for our work?

We attend most Portland Historic Preservation Board meetings, and regularly submit comments on projects that are undergoing review. We work with developers, architects, and individual homeowners to ensure that their projects are in harmony with preservation and historic district standards. Some projects we’ve advocated for recently include the Local Landmark designation of the former B&M Baked Bean Factory, now the anchor building for the new Roux Institute campus, the establishment of the Munjoy Hill Historic District and the endorsement of the contract between the Friends of Fort Gorges and the City of Portland to operate and offer programming at the fort. Advocacy efforts like this ensure that new construction works harmoniously with the existing built environment, and the sense of place we all know and love isn’t lost.  
 
We also work to ensure that maintaining and rehabilitating older buildings is affordable. Not only is adaptive use of existing structures environmentally more friendly than new construction, a matching benefit is the ability to create more affordable housing in spaces that are vacant or underutilized. Historic tax credits help to carry the cost of renovations, while a city’s density and architecture remains intact.

We worked closely with partners to get LD 201 passed, which extended the sunset of Maine’s State Historic Tax Credit program to 2030. Currently, only income-earning properties are eligible for Historic Tax Credit funding, but we’re working to change that so that individual homeowners will also be able to benefit from this program. These efforts will result in long-overdue incentives to assist  homeowners maintaining their historic homes as they increase energy efficiency, carry out routine maintenance, or undertake modernization efforts.
 

Historic Tax Credit Project at the former St. Dominic’s Parochial School for Boys on State Street

Historic Tax Credit Project at the former Mercy Hospital building on State Street

November Federal Advocacy Alert: Historic Tax Credit Provision

Historic Tax Credit Provisions REMOVED from bill!

View fullsize

Last week, a new iteration of the reconciliation infrastructure bill was released and was significantly reduced in scope, excluding the Historic Tax Credit (HTC) enhancements and many other community development incentives that were in a prior bill.

With a very limited amount of time to influence the legislation and knowledge that the HTC is currently "out" of the bill, now is the time to tell your federal legislators how much HTC improvements mean to you. As we're seeing in the national news, Congress is poised to move forward on infrastructure legislation, including a vehicle that could carry HTC provisions, as early as next week.

For months, Greater Portland Landmarks has joined preservation supporters across the country to advocate for improvements to the federal Historic Tax Credit program. It's critically important that our members of Congress hear from YOU!

How You Can Help

Sign the National Trust Sign-on Letter

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has organized a National Sign-on letter to encourage congressional leadership to include the HTC enhancement provisions in the final bill. Click here to sign the letter.

Continue to Reach Out to Maine’s Members of Congress

Please ask for Historic Tax Credit enhancement provisions, not included in the “Build Back Better” framework, to be included back in the final reconciliation bill.

• Call the Capitol Switchboard to connect with Maine’s Members of Congress: 202.224.3121

• Introduce yourself as a constituent and provide our legislators with a message like:

"The Historic Tax Credit is the single most important tool for historic preservation. Though the HTC provisions were included in the Ways and Means bill in September, HTC provisions were not included in the recent “Build Back Better” bill. Please make sure to include the HTC provisions in the final reconciliation bill. These provisions would benefit projects from Main Street revitalizations to large-scale rehabilitation while also supporting community revitalization and climate change mitigation.”

October Federal Advocacy Alert

Ask your legislators to support the
Historic Tax Credit enhancement provisions included in the infrastructure legislation.

Your outreach will directly determine
how much support HTC provisions will receive in ongoing negotiations.

As you're seeing in the national news, Congress is poised to move forward on infrastructure legislation, including a vehicle that could carry HTC provisions, as early as next week.

For months, Greater Portland Landmarks has joined preservation supporters across the country to advocate for improvements to the federal Historic Tax Credit program. The $3.5 trillion bill recently passed by the House Ways & Means Committee is expected to be significantly reduced in size and scope. It's critically important that your member of Congress hear from you that the HTC provisions included in the Ways & Means reconciliation package remain in the next version of the package.

The following HTC provisions are at risk:

• Temporarily Increasing the HTCs From 20% to 30% for all projects. (Sec. 135301)

• Permanent increase in the rehabilitation credit for small projects. (Sec. 135302)

• Modification of substantial rehabilitation definition. (Sec. 135303)

• Elimination of basis adjustment. (Sec. 135304)

• Modifications of tax-exempt use leasing rules. (Sec. 135305)

• Enabling HTCs to be used for public school buildings. (Sec. 135306)

How can you help?

We encourage you to reach out and express to our legislators the impact Historic Tax Credits have on economic development and affordable housing creation in Maine communities today! Will you join us?

Call Your Members of Congress (during office hours)! To call the Capitol Switchboard to connect with your House Member and Senators dial (202)-224-3121, then:

Introduce yourself as a constituent!

Then say…

"The Historic Tax Credit is the single most important tool for historic preservation. Unfortunately, it has not been meaningfully improved since the 1980s. Please support and protect the Historic Tax Credit provisions in the House Reconciliation Infrastructure Bill. The provisions included in the House version of the bill would benefit Maine by rehabilitating downtowns and helping to fund affordable housing projects. Plus reusing our existing buildings helps to mitigate climate change. The greenest building is the one already built, so please help us preserve more and preserve better!"

or email them now through their websites:

These projects and more have benefited from the Federal Historic Tax Credit program.

Federal Advocacy Alert

Ask your legislators to support the
Historic Tax Credit enhancement provisions included in the infrastructure legislation.

Your outreach will directly determine
how much support HTC provisions will receive in ongoing negotiations with the Biden Administration.

For months, Greater Portland Landmarks has joined preservation supporters across the country to advocate for improvements to the federal Historic Tax Credit program. Last week, the House Ways and Means Committee passed a key piece of infrastructure legislation that will expand and improve a number of community development incentives.

Historic Tax Credit provisions, similar to the House version of the Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act (HTC-GO/H.R. 2294), were included in the legislation and passed out of committee on a vote of 24 to 19. The following HTC provisions were included in the bill passed out of the Ways and Means Committee:

• Temporarily Increasing the HTC From 20% to 30% for all projects. (Sec. 135301)

• Permanent increase in the rehabilitation credit for small projects. (Sec. 135302)

• Modification of substantial rehabilitation definition. (Sec. 135303)

• Elimination of basis adjustment. (Sec. 135304)

• Modifications of tax-exempt use leasing rules. (Sec. 135305)

• Enabling HTC to be used for public school buildings. (Sec. 135306)

How can you help?

While Senate Democrats are in control of the present phase of negotiations and Maine doesn't have a Democratic Senator, we encourage you to reach out and express to our legislators the impact Historic Tax Credits have on economic development and affordable housing creation in Maine communities today! Will you join us?

Despite strong support in the House, the Biden Administration is currently negotiating with House and Senate leadership to reduce the cost and scope of the bill. All historic tax credit provisions are in jeopardy of reduction or elimination.

#InMyDistrict - Historic Tax Credits in Greater Portland

It’s Preservation Action’s virtual Preservation Advocacy Week, and we’re joining the #InMyDistrict campaign to show the impact of Historic Preservation Tax Credits in Maine!  

The Federal Historic Preservation Tax Incentives program encourages private sector investment in the rehabilitation and re-use of historic buildings. It is one of the nation’s most successful and cost-effective community revitalization programs. Each year approximately 1,200 projects are approved. Since 1976, the program has leveraged over $73 billion in private investment to preserve 40,380 historic properties nationwide. This program preserves our architectural heritage while stimulating economic growth by bringing new life to under-utilized properties, and is often used to help create affordable housing and bring commercial investment to neighborhoods. 

Here are some recent projects in our district (ME01) that used the Federal Historic Preservation Tax Credit to create affordable housing and commercial space. 

The Motherhouse (Portland)

The St. Joseph’s Convent, also known as the Motherhouse, is a significant architectural landmark in Deering Center. Completed in 1909, the Classical Revival building was designed by the Boston architectural firm of Chickering and O’Connell, one of New England’s preeminent ecclesiastic design firms. The building was the principal residence for the Sisters of Mercy until it closed in 2005 due to the dwindling numbers of Sisters residing in the building. The Motherhouse is a key feature of the neighborhood and for almost 100 years served as an important educational, residential, and spiritual center for the Sisters of Mercy in the local community.

Developers Collaborative and Sea Coast Management leveraged federal and state tax credits to complete a complex adaptive reuse project that converted the space into 66 affordable and 22 market rate housing units for seniors.  The project preserved much of the character and history of the property. Its grand stairways, stained glass windows, three-story chapel with altar, and grand organ have been restored and preserved. Interior window trim, wainscoting, and ceiling details were removed and reinstalled after the application of insulation and utilities.
Stevens Square at Baxter Woods: The Motherhouse

Hyacinth Place (Westbrook)

The Saint Hyacinth’s School (1893) and Convent (1921) were built on Walker and Brown Streets in Westbrook to serve the French-Canadian immigrants that settled in Westbrook to work in the area’s mills. The School was designed by Coburn and Son of Lewiston and the convent was designed by Timothy O’Connell of Boston.  The school closed in 1974. The buildings were then home to a Center of Religious Education, a House of Prayer, St. Hyacinth Historical Society, and the Westbrook Food Pantry before being vacated. The buildings were long neglected by deferred maintenance. 

In 2013, the buildings were listed in the National Register of Historic Places for their architectural and educational significance and association with Westbrook’s Franco-American community. Financed in part by Federal and State Historic Tax Credits, the vacant and neglected buildings were restored and the interiors rehabilitated for use as 37 units of affordable housing. 

Avesta Housing: Hyacinth Place

Bessey Commons (Scarborough)

The Elwood G. Bessey School (1927) in Scarborough was converted in 2010 to 54 affordable apartments for seniors, financed in part by Federal Historic Tax Credits. The project was completed by a developer with a connection to the property: Cynthia Milliken Taylor of Housing Initiatives attended the Bessey School when it was an elementary school, and her father attended Bessey when it was Scarborough High School.

Bessey Commons

Southgate (Scarborough)

The historic Southgate farmhouse (1805) in Scarborough is one of the town's oldest structures and has had a variety of uses over two centuries, including a "gentleman’s farm" and country retreat, a restaurant and inn, and rental housing. The house was originally owned by Dr. Robert Southgate, who moved to Scarborough from Massachusetts in 1771 and builder of the first ‘turnpike’ in Maine across Scarborough Marsh, today’s US Route 1. In 2014, Avesta Housing purchased the property, and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2018 which allowed Avesta to use tax credits as one of the financing tools. The redevelopment project created 38 units of affordable housing within a half-mile of a grocery store, bank, elementary school, bus stop, and drugstore. 

Avesta Housing: Southgate

96 Federal Street (Portland)

The brick apartment building at 96 Federal Street (1867) housed generations of immigrant families in the 19th and 20th centuries until it fell into disrepair and was condemned and abandoned. In 2015, developer Dan Black worked with Maine Preservation and Greater Portland Landmarks to expand the recently-approved India Street Historic District to include the building. State and Federal Historic Tax Credits enabled the developer to save this building and complete extensive stabilization and rehabilitation necessary to create a 6-unit rental building.

Maine Preservation Honor Award: 96 Federal Street

96 Federal Street before restoration

And after!

Engine Company No. 9 (17 Arbor St, Portland)

Engine Company Number Nine Firehouse (1902, also known as the Arbor Street Firehouse) was built shortly after Deering was annexed to Portland. This station housed Engine Number 9 and Ladder Number 4 until 1972, when they moved to a new station on Forest Avenue. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010.  The former home of Portland’s Parks Department, it was sold by the City and rehabilitated into new commercial offices, financed in part by Historic Tax Credits, in 2012. 

Grand Trunk Office Building (Portland)

This three-story Neoclassical style brick building, built in 1903, is the only building which survives from the extensive Grand Trunk Railroad complex in Portland. It was vacant and derelict when Gorham Savings Bank and development partners purchased the building. Using Historic Tax Credits, the building’s interior and exterior were restored, and it has become the bank’s busy, new downtown Portland office. 

share the impact of htcs in our district with our representatives!

Ask our members of Congress to support the Historic Tax Credit as a part of future stimulus legislation by copying this template and sending it to our representatives:

Contact Senator Angus King

Contact Senator Susan Collins

Contact Representative Chellie Pingree

As you consider what programs will help to stimulate the economy in the next round of recovery legislation, I urge you to support the Historic Tax Credit program and the provisions of the HTC-GO Act (H.R. 2825/S. 2615). Please support additional proposed enhancements including a temporary increase in the value of the HTC from 20% to 30% as well. The HTC is a proven economic development tool in Maine and across the nation. These changes would increase rehabilitation activities, create jobs, and support communities across Maine. 

In Maine a recent study highlighted that since 2008, the Federal Historic Tax Credit in conjunction with the Maine Historic Tax Credit (HTC), has generated $525 million in construction investment through more than 100 rehabilitation projects, spanning 3.6 million square feet of commercial and residential space, and have created or preserved 1,911 housing units (of which nearly 1,300 were affordable.)

In Greater Portland historic tax credit projects are helping to provide much needed affordable housing, especially for seniors, and facilitating the reuse of existing buildings in our town and city centers. For example, the complex adaptive reuse of the Motherhouse (St. Joseph's Convent, in Portland), financed in part by historic tax credits, created 66 units of affordable housing and 22 market-rate units, all for seniors. The Saint Hyacinth's school in Westbrook, formerly vacant, was rehabilitated to create 37 units of affordable housing. And in Scarborough, the redevelopment of the historic Southgate Farmhouse created 38 units of affordable housing within a half-mile of a grocery store, bank, elementary school, bus stop, and drugstore. Please support this program that works for Maine and puts Maine people to work. 

What’s Happening in Preservation at the State and National Level?

by Julie Ann Larry, Director of Advocacy

I hope that everyone is well this holiday season. I took a bit of a break over the Thanksgiving holiday away from the internet and phone service. It was much needed time off but now I am back at work and ready to engage in all the exciting new projects and policies that are in the works for 2021!

While Greater Portland Landmarks works mostly at the local level, we also engage with state and federal legislation that will impact the historic preservation profession and our historic communities. While I was away there were several developments at the state and federal level.

In Maine this week was the release of the Governor’s Climate Action Plan. Greater Portland Landmarks and our preservation allies participated in the public workshops held by the Climate Council this spring and summer. Learn more about our advocacy on the Climate Action Plan and read our joint letter to the Council here. The plan’s goal is to ensure that Maine’s communities, industries, and people are resilient to the impacts of climate change and to reduce Maine’s Carbon Emissions 45% below 1990 levels by 2030. The plan has many important steps, but of special note are plans to help improve the efficiency of Maine’s existing housing stock.

Historic resources in Maine’s coastal and riverine communities are at risk from the impacts of climate change. Maine’s Climate Action Plan sets goals to reduce the state’s carbon emissions and make our communities more resilient.

One significant step will be to switch buildings to cleaner heating and cooling systems. About 60% of Maine households rely on heating oil as their primary home heating source — the highest percentage in the country. The plan calls for the installation of at least 100,000 new heat pumps in Maine by 2025. Did you know Greater Portland Landmarks’ headquarters, the Safford House, is heated by water-cooled, ducted heat pumps? Our system was installed nearly a decade ago, replacing an old oil-fired furnace.

If you are interested in the best practices you should follow when making your older home more energy efficient, check out Landmarks’ publication The Energy Efficient Old House. We also have other publications on sustainability and energy efficiency on our Resources webpage. Greater Portland Landmarks believes historic preservation and the green building movement are natural allies: the greenest building, as the saying goes, is the one that is already built! Greater Portland’s existing older buildings embody a heavy prior investment in resources and energy. Keeping them in use conserves that investment, and is recycling at its best!

As the Congress looks ahead to 2021, preservationists are advocating for legislation that will improve opportunities for affordable housing in historic buildings and address the vulnerability of our communities to the impacts of climate change.

The Motherhouse on Stevens Avenue in Portland is one of several projects in Maine that has been rehabilitated pairing Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and Historic Tax Credits. We are joining preservation advocates nationwide to make this paired funding process easier to increase affordable housing opportunities in our community.

At the federal level several issues remain under negotiation while the current Congress debates its final bills during the Lame-Duck session this month, or face uncertain futures as the new Biden administration takes shape. Last month Tom Cassidy, Vice President for Government Relations at the National Trust for Historic Preservation led a presentation to preservation advocates across the nation on the most pressing policy issues facing the preservation community in the months ahead. Potential areas of focus for the last days of the 116th Congress will likely be pandemic relief and extending government funding beyond next week’s December 11th deadline. Preservationist are presently advocating for improvements to the Historic Tax Credit (HTCs) that will aid in the pairing of Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) and the HTCs. The pairing of these two programs has benefited a number of affordable housing projects in Maine, including the rehabilitation of the Motherhouse on Stevens Avenue in Portland and the Southgate Mansion in Scarborough. In addition, preservationists are advocating for increased opportunities for small projects to take advantage of HTCs.

Landmarks is working to document and conserve coastal resources impacted by climate change.

The National Trust’s presentation also looked forward to likely priorities of the 117th Congress: Climate Change, Affordable Housing, and Racial Equity. Landmarks, like many historic preservation non-profits across the nation, has expanded its focus to address challenges in all three areas in recent years. We plan to continue to broaden our advocacy and education programming to reflect our ongoing research in these areas. If you missed our Staying Above Water presentations in October, I hope you’ll take some time to check out the fantastic speakers that joined us to discuss the reasons Maine is susceptible to the impacts of climate change, what those impacts might be, and how we can improve our resilience.

With your support, through donations and your individual advocacy, we are successfully able to advocate for the reuse of historic buildings to the benefit of the environment and our neighbors. Your support also allows us to advocate for sound policies at the local, state and national level that protect and enhance our important cultural resources. Thank you for supporting Greater Portland Landmarks this year!