As noted in Steve Brown’s recent article in the Dallas Morning News, property owners and consultant teams in Dallas and across Texas have used the available historic preservation tax credit programs both to improve the economic performance of their projects while simultaneously giving important 19th and 20th century historic buildings renewed roles in our 21st Century urban fabric. In this new publication, TEXAS: Creating Jobs, Building Communities, Preserving Heritage, unveiled earlier this month by the National Trust for Historic Preservation at their annual conference in Houston, Dallas is noted as the epicenter of this effort, with $371 million in Federal Tax Credit projects completed over the past 14 years. Some may find this result surprising given Dallas’ often repeated self-proclamation as a city that does not embrace either its history or the historic buildings that remain. This report, however, seems to repudiate that perception. Dallas has a rich architectural history with an historic building stock to match. The number, the prominence and the success of the projects in this report are clear indications that the re-invigorated interest in historic preservation that is thought to have begun in September 2014 may have actually been a logical outgrowth from a growing recognition of our valuable historic resources, a recognition that began in the late 1990’s. The popularity of these tax credit programs also indicates that commonly held fears about the restrictions that are thought to come with historic buildings, and the complexity of the regulatory requirements associated with the tax credit programs, are not barriers after all.

You can download a copy of the report from the National Trust here:

TEXAS: Creating Jobs, Building Communities, Preserving Heritage