DIA considering plan to make Downtown a national historic district

[thelakelander]

DIA considering plan to make Downtown, or portions of it, a national historic district

By David Chapman, Staff Writer

History has been a contentious issue for Downtown Jacksonville in recent years.
For much of 2013, there was back-and-forth over whether the Bostwick Building, known as the "jaguar building" should be saved.

On Tuesday, after weeks of discussion, City Council designated the Claude Nolan Building a local historic landmark, as it had done for the Bostwick Building.

But there's a difference between earning local and national historic designations.

Building owners have to adhere to different guidelines, can gain different perks and often spend thousands of their own dollars to see through the lengthy application process for the national placement.

Now, there's a push to make Downtown — or portions of Downtown — listed as a district on the National Register of Historic Places, which would help those seeking national distinction.

It's a move that would mean the whole is greater than the sum of the parts when it comes to historic designation.

The concept has early approval from the Downtown Investment Authority, after the board voted 5-1 last week to further investigate and possibly fund the idea.

Historic preservation advocate Kay Ehas was joined by Joel McEachin and Lisa Sheppard, both of the City's Historic Preservation Section, at the meeting to discuss the idea and the benefits that would come with the distinction.

"Historic buildings are a scarce resource," Ehas told the board. "We're not building any more of them."

She also talked about the business and residential growth that generally comes with creating such districts, using similar areas in Kansas City, Philadelphia and Denver, as examples.

Full article: http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=542568

[IrvAdams]

Sounds Awesome!

[JaxNative68]

We do have a lot of historic concrete slabs on grade in the downtown area to show off to the nation.  Hopefully we can preserve the rest of the historic building stock whether we get on the National Register or not.

[duvaldude08]

We need to preserve what we do have left (which makes me sad when I say it). Its a awful shame what we did to downtown. The razing started in the 80's and didnt really stop until a few years ago under Peyton. But I have a questions. What was the last structure to be razed and when? ( a structure that was NOT replaced by something else)

[Tacachale]

^It's tricky because some newer developments that filled in an empty lot, took over a lot that had been cleared years before. In other words, the original buildings weren't demolished specifically for the new development.

However, there's been very little infill since the recession, so basically everything that's been torn down in the last several years hasn't been replaced by anything but surface parking (or worse).

[Tacachale]

We do have a lot of historic concrete slabs on grade in the downtown area to show off to the nation.  Hopefully we can preserve the rest of the historic building stock whether we get on the National Register or not.

I agree - we need to be much more serious about preservation whether they go the National Register route or not.

[thelakelander]

We do have a lot of historic concrete slabs on grade in the downtown area to show off to the nation.

Hmm. Maybe an idea for a future Metro Jacksonville historical series: The Concrete Slabs of Jacksonville.

[Noone]

We do have a lot of historic concrete slabs on grade in the downtown area to show off to the nation.

Hmm. Maybe an idea for a future Metro Jacksonville historical series: The Concrete Slabs of Jacksonville.

+1

[billy]

+1

[strider]

To be honest, I think going through and actually landmarking the various buildings already "earmarked" to be landmarks rather than making the entire Downtown a historic district is a better way to go. I suspect there will be lots of push back against the idea from many of the owners of the buildings.  They tend to see more negatives than positives from the designations.  Think about the City Councils reactions on the Claude Nolan building.

And "The Concrete Slabs of Jacksonville" sounds like a great idea. A new book?

[thelakelander]

^I hadn't put much thought into it and I don't know if people would find enough interest in the idea to purchase books but  this city if full of significant slabs with potential stories behind them.  One could easily do a full book just on downtown alone (George Washington Hotel, Board of Trade, the Shipyards, Ashley Street jazz/blues bars, etc.) but this city offers a smorgasbord of options. Literally anything from downtown, Hurston Flower Shop and Arlington's Expressway Mall to Cecil Field, Mixtontown's Jones Chambliss slaughterhouse and Lackawanna's SAL locomotive shops could be considered.

Anyway, I plan to do something and have it published in time for the holiday season but I haven't settled on if the subject matter should be local again or statewide at this point. If local, it would probably be a Lost Jax theme that focuses on districts that are no longer with us (ex. LaVilla, Imeson Airport, Yukon, Sugar Hill, Downtown waterfront, etc.).  If statewide, I'd probably team up with Nomeus (he's got great photos from all over the state) again but go with a theme involving in industries that built Florida's cities (ex. railroad, ports, citrus, phosphate, cigars, tourism, real estate development/Florida land boom, etc.).  My interest in a statewide product would be penetrating Florida's larger markets, as opposed to just Jax.

Anyway, my plan is to decide one way or the other within the next week or two.

[urbanlibertarian]

How would this affect new development and changes to non-historic buildings within the district?  How does it spur new development?

[thelakelander]

From my understanding, it would not have any impact on infill or new construction. However, it would allow older buildings to be eligible for federal funding programs and grants they currently can't tap into.

[Kay]

A national register district makes all contributing structures within the district eligible for a 20% federal tax credit on rehab costs.  A national register district does not have the prohibitions on what a property owner can do to the outside of their building like a local historic district or local landmark designation does.  It truly is all carrot and no stick.  District status is approved by the state and the feds, not the local government.

Property owners choose whether to go after federal tax credits and if they do, then they will have to renovate to certain standards.  District designation saves individual property owners money since they won't have to pay to have their building listed on the national register.  The City's historic planners do not handle applications for the national register so property owners have to hire consultants to do that.  However, local staff does handle local landmarks so that doesn't cost property owners any money.  Additionally, buildings that may not meet the standards to get listed on the national register, such as the building on Forsyth that Langton recently purchased, will be eligible for tax credits because it would be a contributing structure to the district.

This does not prevent property owners from seeking local landmark status if they want to be eligible for the 10-year property tax exemption or the historic trust fund.

[Kay]

From my understanding, it would not have any impact on infill or new construction. However, it would allow older buildings to be eligible for federal funding programs and grants they currently can't tap into.

National Register Districts are a tool to encourage rehabilitation of historic structures.  If that happens, then infill is more likely to happen next to a great old building than one that is run down and unoccupied.