Historic Tax Credits News Briefs - November 2021

Delaware Gov. John Carney signed legislation Sept. 15 to extend the state historic tax credit (HTC) by nine years. S.B. 182 moves the credit’s sunset date to June 30, 2030, from June 30, 2021. Delaware’s HTC is equal to 20% of qualified expenditures for properties eligible for the federal HTC, subject to specific program and project caps.

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St. Louis-based Rise Community Development completed in September the Edison Avenue Art Lofts in Granite City, Illinois. The development was renovated in an $11 million effort for low-income artists, veterans and others. The four-story brick building, home to a YMCA until 2004, included $3 million in funding from federal and state HTCs.

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Renaissance Square Apartments in Schenectady, New York, was completed in September. The $20 million development converted a historic school into 25 apartments and built an additional 30 apartments in a new building. Funding included $3.2 million in state and federal HTC equity, as well as $16 million in equity generated from state and federal low-income housing tax credits. The homes are for those earning up to 80% of the area median income. The St. Mary’s School closed in 1979 and had fallen into disrepair before the redevelopment.

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The Georgia Department of Revenue scheduled a meeting Nov. 3 to discuss a proposed rule that would establish the process for preapproval of claims for the state HTC for historic homes and any other certified structures earning less than $300,000. Proposed Rule 560-7-8-.56 would bring the state HTC regulations into conformity with state law. The rule would retain the statewide annual cap at $5 million for HTCs for historic homes and any certified structure earning $300,000 or less.

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Virginia Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner reintroduced in September the School Infrastructure Modernization Act, which would expand the federal HTC to allow for rehabilitations of schools that continue to operate as such. S. 2883 would exempt schools from the credit’s current requirement to serve a different function than previously. The law would apply beginning Dec. 31, 2021, with a window for the U.S. Department of the Treasury to review it before the end of 2026. Rep. Dwight Evans, D-Pennsylvania, introduced companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives.

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Legislation introduced in the Ohio State Senate would temporarily increase the statewide cap for the state HTC and the state opportunity zones (OZ) investment tax credit and make other modifications. S.B. 225 would increase the annual state HTC cap to $120 million for fiscal years 2022 and 2023 from the current $60 million cap and increase the transaction cap to $10 million from the current $5 million for fiscal years 2021, 2022 and 2023. The legislation would also increase the state HTC from 25% to 35% for HTC properties in communities with populations less than 71,000 according to the 2020 census. S.B. 225 would also increase the statewide OZ investment credit cap from $50 million to $100 million for the period of July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2023, reverting to $50 million per biennium after that.