Macon Rotary Presentation

Macon Rotary Club: May 13, 2013

1Tuesday, May 21, 13

P.O. Box 13358 Macon, GA 31208 Ph: 478.742.5084 Fax:478.742.2008 www.historicmacon.org

Preservation History

“God help me I sometimes cannot stomach it when I see with what negligence, or to put it more crudely, by what avarice they allow the

ruin of things because of their great nobility the barbarians, the raging enemy have spared; or those which all-conquering, all ruining time might easily have allowed to stand forever.”

-- Leon Battista Alberti, 15th century



Preservation Law

Pope Pius II issues first preservation law on April 28,

1462

Requires the maintenance and preservation of ecclesiastical buildings, and ancient burial

structures



Renaissance Italy

Laocoön and His SonsStatue ca. 25 BC attributed restored

under a Renaissance era contest judged by Raphael



The Grand Tour

Francis Basset in 1778 on the Grand Tour in Rome, with the Castel Sant'Angelo and St. Peter's Basilica in the background - painting by Pompeo Batoni



Parthenon

The Elgin, er, Parthenon Marbles?



Preservation of ruins



National Register

The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation's historic places worthy of preservation

•National Register authorized by National Historic Preservation Act of 1966

•Resource must be at least 50 years old and retain the integrity of this age

•Resource must be association with significant events, activities or developments

•Can be sites, objects, structures, buildings, ships or collections of these in districts

•Districts can be significant in the story it tells as a collection of resources

•Kept by the National Park Service

•Nominations are received and vetted by the State Historic Preservation Office



National Register

Benefits Restrictions

•Eligible for federal tax credits (Federal Rehabilitation Tax Credit)

•You can purchase and hang a plaque

•Information about the resource is permanently archived

•None, unless federal money is used



Macon’s Historic Buildings

• 14 National Register historic districts

• 7,718 acres of historic districts• 6,387 contributing resources within

National Register historic districts• 6,332 National Register listed

historic buildings• Buildings range in age from ca.

1820 to 1973• Two National Historic Landmarks

Each dot represents one historic building



Why Preservation?



The basics

Buy it and make it a museum!



Sidney Lanier Cottage



Other options

Mount an advocacy campaign

Change local laws or zoning to affect the property

Donations & Bargain sales

Acquire a real estate option

Acquire an easement or deed covenant

Provide technical assistance and use incentive programs

Improve the neighborhood and value to make the property attractive



Donations & Bargain Sales



Partnerships



Easements & Covenants

•When you sell a property, you don’t have to sell the whole

property•Maybe you have a farm and only want to sell the barn and 100 acres and keep 5 acres

and the farmhouse•Covenants and easements are

the same: you keep someproperty rights when you sell or some property rights are donated to you

• You can keep or have any property right donated

• Examples: The right to maintain the property in and out, the right to tear down a property the right to use the property for certain purposes, the right to

restore the property, the right to sell the property to someone else



Easements

We keep and monitor about 130 easements and covenants



Incentives for homes

Georgia’s state income tax rate is 6%. A household with $50,000 in income pays about $3,000 in state income tax each year. Historic Macon

Foundation’s houses come with $30,000 in tax credits, meaning buyers with $50,000 in income would not pay taxes for ten years.

8.5 year property tax freeze at pre-rehabilitation value

25%-30% state tax credit ($100,000 max)

Homes in Macon are charged property tax every year. For a $135,000 home, that tax is nearly $2,260 a year ($188/month). Historic Macon homes have

values that are frozen, decreasing your property taxes drastically.



Assistance with incentives



Obsolete housing demolished



Beall’s Hill



Sales prices

$80.00

$87.50

$95.00

$102.50

$110.00

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Average sales price



Days on Market

0

38

75

113

150

Historic Macon National Average

Days on Market



Revitalization Partners

!



Economic Development

Historic Macon Hills and Heights Partnership

Private

$1,715,000 $1,333,000 $1,254,000



Economic Development

Property Tax Sales Tax Jobs

64 Jobs$47,000/ year $115,000



980 Maple St.- Before



980 Maple St.- After



972 Maple St.- Before



972 Maple St.- After



1295 Ross St.- Before



1295 Ross St.- After


• Demographic changes in the U.S. will require a vast increase in urban housing options

• Between 2010 and 2030, four in five new homes needed to accommodate household growth will be for households without children

• To meet the emerging demand for the new urbanity, roughly 44.5 million new attached and small-lot detached units will need to be built between 2007 and 2020

• Up to 27 million large-lot units may be surplussed by 2020• Most buyers would be willing to accept a home with

smaller square footage for one with a higher level of finish


Real Estate Changes

NEW URBANITY: THE RISE OF A NEW AMERICA, By ARTHUR C. NELSON, The Annals of The American Academy of Political and Social Science November, 2009626 Annals 192


Even the National Association of REALTORS says:

•“Two-thirds of Americans now see being within easy walking distance of places in their community as an important factor in deciding where to live”

•“The coming demographic convergence will push construction inward, accelerating the rehabilitation of cities...”


REALTORS


13%

39%

48%

Households with Children Households without ChildrenSingle person households

U.S. Household Distribution in 1960


28%

45%

27%

Households with Children Households without ChildrenSingle person households

U.S. Household Distribution in 2030 (projected)


0

15

30

45

60

Households with Children Households without Children Single Person Households

1960

2000

2030

Suburban Urban Small-lot Urban Loft



Walkability



Second Sunday



Mercer Village



Downtown Revolving Fund



Downtown Lofts Project

551 Cherry St.

Save an abandoned and derelict building

Create 3-4 owner-occupied loft apartments

Spark a market for home owners to move to downtown

Macon


Josh Rogers, Executive [email protected]

phone 478-742-5084 • fax 478-742-2008email [email protected] • site www.historicmacon.org


CASE STUDY

Purchase a home with tax credits in place


Restored homes from Historic Macon Foundation

include tax credits

This home at 980 Maple St. included frozen property taxes at $200 per year and $30,000 in state income tax

credits.

The net monthly cost to own this $130,000 home is

$500 per month

Homes


HomesHistoric home

Any other home

House Price $135,000 $135,000

Down Payment $4,725 $4,725

You Get a Raise! $2,700/year $0

Reduced Property Tax $205 $2,260

Total Savings $44,480 $0

Total Monthly Cost $500 $1,160


Down Payment Assistance

The City of Macon offers down payment assistance up to $25,000 for people of low

to moderate incomes

Mercer University offers $20,000 to all employees for

down payments

Georgia Dream can offer $5,000 to $7,500 to help with

down payment and closing costs


Josh Rogers, Executive [email protected]

phone 478-742-5084 • fax 478-742-2008email [email protected] • site www.historicmacon.org



Preservation History


Macon Rotary Presentation

Documents

Transcript of Macon Rotary Presentation