WEST SIDE
Plan for stable might jeopardize tax credits, city told
The city’s plan to stabilize a 119- year-old former horse barn by removing large sections of the crumbling structure could make it ineligible for tax credits that might be key to redevelopment, preservationists warned Monday.
Over the weekend, the city authorized a $397,000 contract with Empire Building Diagnostics of Depew to save the White Bros. Livery & Boarding Stable on Jersey Street. Part of the building’s roof collapsed last month, forcing five families from nearby homes for safety reasons.
City inspections officials initially planned to have the building torn down, but they shifted gears after some criticized the proposed demolition.
The goal now involves saving a wall around the old livery, preserving the building’s distinctive footprint.
But some are prodding the city to try to at least save the first two floors. Any alterations that destroy the fabric of the building could hinder redevelopment, preservationists say.
“Any type of structural modification to the building could have a dramatic effect on its ability to attract historic tax credits,” said Fred K. Heinle, assistant vice president of the Community Preservation Corp. “Unfortunately, we’re in a situation where the issue has to be addressed sooner rather than later.”
Heinle’s group, a national not-for-profit organization with an office in Buffalo, funds and provides technical assistance for neighborhood revitalization projects. He said his group previously looked at the building with several prospective developers, adding that they concluded acquisition costs were too high.
Heinle says he is convinced the building could be transformed into high-quality lofts or some other project. But without tax credits intended for historic structures, development at the site could be doomed, he said.
“That project will not get done without multiple sources of financing.”
Developers renovating structures can qualify for tax credits equaling 20 percent of the project’s cost.
Timothy A. Tielman, a preservationist who lives on the West Side, agreed on the importance of doing everything possible to make sure a developer stands a good chance of qualifying for such tax credits.
“You want to save as much of the building as possible, and I think there’s a willingness on the part of the city to do that,” Tielman said. “If less removal is needed, it would make everyone happy.”
Peter K. Cutler, Mayor Byron W. Brown’s communications director, said the city wants to save as much of the structure as possible, but public safety must be the top priority.
