Thanks to Rep. Walt Leger’s leadership, HB 630 to ensure continuation of the Louisiana Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit (HTC) for commercial structures, passed the House yesterday (64 to 33) and has been transmitted to the Senate, where it is likely to be referred to the Senate Revenue & Fiscal Affairs Committee, which is chaired by HTC champion Sen. Neil Riser.  In the coming days, we will learn when a Senate committee hearing and/or vote may be scheduled on HB 630, and we can plan our support accordingly.

On the Senate side last night, SB 208 and SB 197, which ensure continuation of the Louisiana Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit for commercial structures and residences, respectively, were referred to the Senate Finance Committee.  The Senate has a standing rule that any bill with a fiscal note above $100,000 must be referred to the Senate Finance Committee.  In this challenging budget environment, that rule is being strongly enforced, so SB 208 and SB 197 are being treated like other bills and are not being singled-out.  In the coming days, we will learn when a Senate Finance Committee hearing and/or vote may be scheduled on SB 208 and SB 197, and we once again be calling for your support.

Your sustained, active support of the Louisiana HTC is making a big difference.  Today, we are three weeks from the end of the session.  Your voice and your advocacy are critical to the success of these bills, so please keep it up!

Rep. Leger’s HB 630, which ensures continuation of the Louisiana Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit for commercial buildings, passed the Ways & Means Committee unanimously and now is scheduled for a House floor vote TOMORROW, May 14th.

Sen. Riser’s SB 208 and SB 197, which ensure continuation of the Louisiana Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit for commercial buildings and residences, respectively, were passed by the Senate Revenue & Fiscal Affairs Committee unanimously and could be on the Senate floor today, but it is more likely to be TOMORROW OR THURSDAY, May 14th or May 15th.

TODAY is the day to make your strong support for the Louisiana Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit known to your state representative and state senator and to encourage them to support the bills when they are on the floor this week.

Find the contact information for your state legislators HERE.

Message to House Members

Louisiana’s Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit is a proven winner for the state and for the towns and cities throughout the state where the rehabilitation occurs.  It drives job creation, economic development, rehabilitation, and tax revenue that much more than pays the cost of the credits.  When HB 630 is on the House floor tomorrow, please vote for this important bill.

Message to Senate Members

Louisiana’s Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit is a proven winner for the state and for the towns and cities throughout the state where the rehabilitation occurs.  It drives job creation, economic development, rehabilitation, and tax revenue that much more than pays the cost of the credits.  When SB 208 and SB 197 are on the Senate floor this week, please vote for these important bills.

Louisiana’s Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit delivers strong results throughout the state, from our smallest main streets to our biggest downtowns.  Senator Neil Riser, Chairman of the Senate Revenue & Fiscal Affairs Committee, sponsored two bills this session to ensure Louisiana’s Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit can continue delivering strong results for our state: SB 208 (historic commercial buildings) and SB 197 (historic residences).

This Monday, May 13^th, at 1:00 pm, the Senate Revenue & Fiscal Affairs Committee will vote on SB 208 and SB 197.

Louisianians who care about the strong results the state’s Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit delivers (jobs, economic development, tax revenue, revitalization, preservation, etc.) are encouraged to do TWO things:

1.     Contact members of the Senate Revenue & Fiscal Affairs Committee TODAY to urge their support for SB 208 and SB 197 on Monday (contact information and suggested message below), and

2.     Attend the committee meeting on MONDAY at 1:00 pm to show both credts have strong statewide support.

If you care about the results these two credits deliver, please be a part of the political process TODAY and MONDAY.  It matters!

Below are contact information and suggested messages to committee members.

Suggested message to Chairman Riser: Chairman Riser, thank you for your leadership in championing Louisiana’s proven Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit, which has delivered excellent results throughout the entire state, and thank you encouraging the Revenue Committee to pass HB 208 and HB 197 on Monday. CLICK HERE to email Sen. Riser and express your support for the rehab tax credits.

Suggested message to members of the committee: Senator _______, Chairman Riser introduced SB 208 and SB 197 to ensure Louisiana’s proven Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit can continue delivering strong job creation and economic development results through the entire state.  When the Senate Revenue Committee votes on SB 208 and SB 197 this Monday, please support these bills so historic rehabilitation can continue creating good jobs and valuable economic development for our state. CLICK HERE to email the committee and express your support for the rehab tax credits.

Neighborhood Conservation Districts Committee
WHEN: Monday, May 6, 2013 @ 2:00 PM
WHERE: Council Chambers, City Hall (1300 Perdido)

If you have an opinion about any of the demolitions, the NCDC members want to hear about it!

CLICK HERE to view to view the agenda and photos. The demolition proposals are listed by neighborhood. Are there any proposals in your area? How do you feel about the demolition?

CLICK HERE to view a map of proposed demolitions.

CLICK HERE to email the committee and share your thoughts. If this link does not work for you, right click on “click here,” copy the email addresses, and paste the email addresses into the “to” field of an email.

How else can you help? CLICK HERE to learn more about the citizen’s role in the demolition review process.

Preservation / Adaptive Reuse Success Stories within Louisiana

for the period 2010-2012

Call for Nominations

Deadline:  Friday, May 17, 2013

The Louisiana Trust for Historic Preservation (LTHP) needs your involvement and assistance in identifying historic structures within Louisiana that are deemed a success story.  These historic structures underwent some type of preservation effort to return them to economic activity during the period 2010 through 2012.  A historic structure includes buildings, non-building structures, landscapes, streetscapes, and neighborhoods

Criteria for consideration for listing:

Structure is historic (at least 50 years old) and was preserved during the 2010-2012 time period or is under an active preservation effort that began during the 2010-2012 period.

Complete and digitally return the Site Information form.  All submissions must be returned in digital / electronic format by the deadline.  Site Information form can be reproduced for multiple nominations.

Although not required, two pictures with one showing the structure “before” the preservation effort and one picture showing the structure “after” the completion of the effort can be forwarded digitally with the nomination.

Digital address for responses:  wlcallaway@att.net

Point of Contact:  William Lane Callaway, LTHP Board Member; (318) 798-5959

The nomination form is available online HERE.

THE CITY PLANNING COMMISSION WILL HOLD PUBLIC HEARINGS ON TUESDAY, MAY 14, 2013, AND TUESDAY, MAY 28, 2013, IN THE CITY COUNCIL CHAMBER (CITY HALL -1E07) ON THE FOLLOWING DRAFT PLANS:

LAFITTE GREENWAY PARK MASTER PLAN – JANUARY 2013 DRAFT – To consider the draft plan for the design and development of a public trail, open space, and recreation amenity known as the Lafitte Greenway and Greenway Park.

LAFITTE CORRIDOR REVITALIZATION PLAN – JANUARY 2013 DRAFT – To consider a draft plan to complement and build upon the investment in the Lafitte Greenway and Greenway Park through compatible land use and urban design policies, economic development strategies, and transportation connections.

THE CITY PLANNING COMMISSION WILL HEAR ALL PROPONENTS FOR AND OPPONENTS TO THE ABOVE PROPOSED DRAFT PLANS. ALL INTERESTED PARTIES ARE ENCOURAGED TO ATTEND AND ALL RELEVANT COMMENTS CONCERNING THE DRAFT PLANS ARE ENCOURAGED. YOU MAY ALSO SUBMIT WRITTEN COMMENTS TO THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR IN ADVANCE BY MAIL (1300 PERDIDO STREET, 7^TH FLOOR, NEW ORLEANS, LA 70112) OR BY EMAIL (cpcinfo@nola.gov). ALL WRITTEN COMMENTS MUST BE RECEIVED BY CLOSE OF BUSINESS ON THE MONDAY EIGHT DAYS PRIOR TO THE HEARING DATE. COPIES OF BOTH DOCUMENTS ARE AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD FROM THE FOLLOWING WEBSITE:

http://lafittecorridorconnection.com/project-documents.html.

Ask anyone in the know about the biggest hot spots in the country for rapidly changing population demographics, and East Harlem is guaranteed to be on the short list. For several years now New York residents have been noting the rising real estate prices in northern Manhattan, likening the trend to incredible market shifts that have occurred in Brooklyn, particularly in areas such as Williamsburg, in the past decade.

As the cradle of some of America’s most important jazz, art, poetry and literature, artists living in East Harlem — also known as El Barrio and Spanish Harlem — are at particular risk as real estate prices rise. The Andy Warhol Foundation contacted Minneapolis-based nonprofit developer Artspace Projects, which creates, owns and operates affordable spaces for artists and creative businesses across the country to ensure that artists can stay in neighborhoods they contributed to, in 2004 to see if they could find an area in one of the five boroughs that was of interest.

“The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development toured us around the city and introduced us to both PS 109 and El Barrio’s Operation Fightback,” said Shawn McLearen, Vice President for Artspace and project director for the redevelopment of PS 109. The historic school, designed in 1900 by architect Charles Snyder, had been vacant for over 10 years and was almost demolished at one point — community leaders’ protests literally stopped bulldozers and kept the building standing. “El Barrio had a very clear set of challenges and opportunities, and a very clear set of local leadership that wanted to be at the table in conducting any work together, rather than other communities that weren’t quite sure about what they wanted to do, or how a partnership like ours might benefit their efforts to reach their goals,” McLearen said.

Artspace and El Barrio’s Operation Fightback partnered that same year to transform the 115,000 square-foot, five-floor school into 90-units of affordable live/work space for artists. They finally closed on the deal in June 2012, pleasing many entities pulling for Artspace to redevelop the space, including community and city leaders. “Affordable housing in El Barrio has long been an important community goal,” McLearen said. “The NYC School Construction Authority made clear that they didn’t have enough money to turn the 19^th-century building into a 21^st-century educational facility and the community didn’t want to see anyone financing a project by turning the school into condos. So what was the community going to do?

“Artspace started to make sense because our model is to not only bring affordable housing, historic preservation and other types of financing tools together for community development agendas, but to use the financing challenge as an opportunity for other foundations to get involved as well.”

The building’s restoration posed a rare challenge in that both the exterior and interior are listed on the National Register of Historic Places — significantly driving up costs. While most developers restoring National Register-listed buildings have to worry only about the accuracy of the building’s exterior, Artspace’s restoration, to qualify for federal and state historic tax credits, has to maintain both the façade’s integrity and the interior’s significance as a former school in the building’s redesign.

One way the team has accomplished this is by keeping the 3,500 square-foot ground-floor lobby open, transforming it from a student gathering space to a community exhibit space, to be operated by the residents. Throughout the rest of the building, the demising walls are largely maintained, as are the hallways and common areas. As for the 90 units, because they’re meant to be used as both living space and a work studio, the 500 to 1,000 square foot sizes are, on average, much larger than typical affordable apartments in the New York City. “Artspace tries to make units as large as we can; we meet our mission in part by ensuring units are large enough for artists to live and work in,” McLearen said. “We have larger units but a smaller quantity.”

The redevelopment of PS 109 has quite a price tag — it’s currently estimated at $52 million — as the building was in poor condition when Artspace began construction in July 2012. Though the structure has been taken down to the beams and columns, and will require projects such as the replacement of the majority of the roof and the restoration of a copper cupola, among others, the quality of the original construction of the building still impresses McLearen. “It shows that if you handle them properly, a lot of these buildings remain exceptional,” he said. “All things considered, we’re really pleased with the state of the structural steel, masonry and terra cotta that we’ve uncovered.”

The site is also designed to be accessible to the public, which is populous in this dense neighborhood. The site is surrounded by Washington Houses, a New York City Housing Authority multi-site facility; engaging neighbors is part of the impetus behind the team’s efforts to provide a permanent green market site. Fresh food will also be grown within one of the site’s two courtyards.

“El Barrio is an incredible neighborhood,” McLearen said. “Like all of New York, it’s in a constant state of change, and there’s a cultural vibrancy that people want to protect. Cultural facilities that allow for artists and arts organizations to continue to do what they do, and maintain their traditions,” are vital, he said. “Artists are an existing portion of the affordable housing demographic, not separate from it. When you apply a fact like that to an area like El Barrio you realize quickly that there are a lot of artists in this community that want to stay here and continue to contribute to their community.”

See the complete photo gallery here.

Read more about the community engagement and financing process in “Bringing Back Bell,” featured in April’s Preservation in Print magazine.

Read more about Artspace’s PS 109 project here.

Neighborhood Conservation Districts Committee
WHEN: Monday, April 15, 2013 @ 2:00 PM
WHERE: Council Chambers, City Hall (1300 Perdido)

If you have an opinion about any of the demolitions, the NCDC members want to hear about it!

CLICK HERE to view to view the agenda and photos. The demolition proposals are listed by neighborhood. Are there any proposals in your area? How do you feel about the demolition?

CLICK HERE to view a map of proposed demolitions.

CLICK HERE to email the committee and share your thoughts. If this link does not work for you, right click on “click here,” copy the email addresses, and paste the email addresses into the “to” field of an email.

How else can you help? CLICK HERE to learn more about the citizen’s role in the demolition review process.

Originally built as a double to house workers on the Bouligny Plantation, this 1880s Eastlake-style shotgun was a blighted home on a blighted street when Mamie and Kirk Gasperecz purchased it in the late 1970s. The pioneering young couple took on the responsibility of not only renovating their new house but also revitalizing the block.

As executive director of the historic Hermann-Grima and Gallier Houses in the French Quarter, Mamie has a great appreciation for period homes and furnishings, but she and Kirk chose to deftly balance history with the needs of a modern family when they designed their renovation. Converting the double into a large single with an open parlor across the front, the Gasperecz’s preserved the original floors, millwork, pocket doors and old glass in the windows. They added what Mamie calls a “modified camelback” by slightly lowering the ceiling in the rear to accommodate the generous dormered space above, and replaced a front door that had been added by earlier owners with an opening replicated from the existing, original floor-to-ceiling windows. Throughout the home are many family heirlooms, including 19th-century furnishings, and the paint scheme incorporates heritage colors. Mamie, a life-long art student who has studied with Carol Peebles’ Blue Easel Club for years, adapted a first floor bedroom into her art studio. This creative blend of an old and new layout remains both up-to-date and charmingly historic even three decades after the Gasperecz’s first renovated it, making their home a pioneering showplace for what has become a beautiful neighborhood. – by Valorie Hart

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Enjoy a delightful self-guided tour of shotgun homes Uptown, featuring the personal art collections of artists, collectors, and gallery owners. This walkable tour includes discounts at participating businesses along Magazine Street.