(The Center Square) – Six projects will receive a combined $22.1 million from the state’s Historic Preservation Tax Credit program, the Iowa Economic Development Authority announced Thursday.
“This program helps Iowa’s historic buildings find new life, and I continue to be amazed at the quality of projects it attracts,” IEDA and Iowa Finance Authority Director Debi Durham said in the news release. “These projects preserve the past and help our communities create vibrant places for people to live and work.”
IEDA received requests from 20 projects that together requested $40 million in tax credits, the release said.
Projects are scored on readiness, financing and local support and participation.
The program provides state income tax credits to projects rehabilitating underused or vacant historic buildings while maintaining the buildings’ characteristics that enhance neighborhoods and communities, the release said. The work must meet the U.S. Department of Interior standards.
This round of awards will support Sioux City’s Warnock (Benson; $5.3 million) building, which used to be a car dealership and furniture company headquarters. It will be rehabilitated to include commercial space on the ground floor and 83 apartments on the upper five floors.
Des Moines’ vacant Howard Johnson Motor Lodge building ($5.0 million) will be turned into an 81-room hotel, with a full rehabilitation of the interior, new window and mechanical systems and improvements to patios and the parking lot.
Des Moines’ The Grand Trees residential (market rate) project received approval for $4.0 million in tax credits. The buildings were constructed in 1923.
Dubuque’s historic Roshek Brothers building ($5.7 million), which once was a department store, will be renovated to expand office space. It includes a meeting area, fitness room, mail room, storage and space for new office tenants.
Dubuque’s Novelty Iron Works received approval for $238,024 in tax credits for its mixed use project.
The former, 101-year-old Winterset High School building ($2.0 million), which is on the National Register of Historic Places, will be turned into 27 affordable housing units.
The State Historic Preservation Office partners with the IEDA in administering the program. Applications for the next application round for large projects are due June 15.
