Gerry and Marge McCue have lived in a quaint French Provincial house in Phoenix’s historic Fairview neighborhood for the past 50 years. They’ve raised four children there, seen sports teams come and go, witnessed a population explosion, as well as the installation of a freeway that tore a community in half.
For more than 25 years, they have been on the front line advocating for historic preservation and as they bring out a binder full of historic registration forms for more than 300 houses that they helped register back in 1991– part of a four-year data research and collection by a team of 12 – the passion they hold and share with so many others for preserving Phoenix’s pieces of history is abundantly apparent.
“Where else can you drive down the street and see 1920, 1930, 1916, see a house that’s 100 years old?” said Gerry McCue. “It’s a 3D look at history.”
The McCues and other historic preservation advocates don’t believe that every old building deserves to be saved. In fact, they tend to stress that. But they do argue that there are plenty that do and the benefits of preserving those properties are many, both quantifiable and not.
Advocates argue that historic preservation can be tied to a community’s sense of identity, help bolster community interaction through diverse, walkable and engaging urban design, as well as inform sustainable development. And on the more quantifiable side of the argument is that historic preservation has a positive impact on property values, downtown revitalization and job creation among others.
The problem though is that the quantifiable research has been more heavily conducted on the east coast or on a national level, leaving a city such as Phoenix absent of localized data, which is likely the strongest tool to garner greater public and government support.
“It is unfortunate that we do not have real specific information,” said city of Phoenix Historic Preservation Officer Michelle Dodds. “You can quantify it, it is just no one has done that kind of study specific to Phoenix.”
A national study conducted by PlaceEconomics in 2013 further supports that point. In the study through a combination of literature review, interviews and a symposium, researchers outlined several core metrics that could be focused on to indicate economic impact. These included such things as job creation through rehabilitation, downtown revitalization, heritage tourism, and the insulation of historic property values.
Dodds said she ultimately believes that a study localized to Phoenix would be extremely valuable and serve the department similarly to how economic data increased support for arts and culture.
The snag is that Phoenix’s Historic Preservation Office lacks the funds and resources to conduct such a study on its own. Worst yet, that is not the only area related to historic preservation where lack of funds may soon come into play.
There are currently tax reduction and tax credits programs associated with historic preservation, but one of the city’s more successful programs, the Demonstration Project Program, which uses Historic Preservation Bond funds to encourage the reuse and rehabilitation of historic properties, is beginning to feel the tightening of purse strings.
According to Dodds, this program is still operating off of the bond funds it was awarded in a bond election in 2006. While the city has managed to stretch those funds, the next bond vote including funds for historic preservation has yet to be scheduled.
But while funds are getting lower, the grant program and tax incentives continue to have their appeal. The state of Arizona maintains a property tax-reduction program for non-income producing historic properties listed on the National Register, as well as a property tax incentive program for income producing historic properties.
There are also additional programs that make use of bond funds, and the city’s grant program in particular has represented a huge win for preservation efforts because the grants are typically accompanied by a conservation easement that may last as long as 30 years preventing demolition.
Despite these programs and incentives, there also remains the reality that some people are just not keen on registering. This may be due to the fact that registration could in some way impact the ability of the owner to make certain decisions about their property entirely absent of government review. Or it could also be because registration may impact their ability to sell a property.
Regardless, there are understandable reasons, and on top of that Arizona remains a very property rights-oriented state. Even prior to Prop. 207, which may have inadvertently overpowered property owners, the city council rarely ever designated against a property owner’s wishes, said Dodds.
The tendency of the state to lean toward the rights of the property owner will also be interesting to see at play with the passing of a city ordinance last week that creates a waiting period for the demolition of historic buildings, especially if that ordinance is ever challenged in court.
As reported last week, due to the new ordinance the demolition of historic buildings will now require a 30-day waiting period and public notice, and will apply to commercial buildings 50 years or older and all properties identified as eligible for historic designation. It is also expected to affect 300 buildings out of the 1,500 that apply for permits each year.
Although localized quantifiable data to support designation remains sorely needed, in downtown’s Warehouse District historic preservation is showing hints of a possible economic spark.
Mike Cowley, president and CEO of Cowley Companies, said historic preservation has been a passion of his company since 2000. Now his company has completed three historic rehabilitation projects and has started planning three more east of Chase Field.
Although historic preservation is only a small part of his company, Cowley’s ability to combine that with some of the knowledge he’s gained through observing some of the economic growth around his other real estate holdings in Denver, Boise and Fort Worth, all areas where historic buildings have partnered with redevelopment to create vibrant, cool areas, is proving to be fruitful.
“I’ve been investing in the Denver market for about 15 years, part of why we’ve done what we’ve done in the Warehouse District is to try and kick start that type of development,“ Cowley said.
Now that investment is really starting to payoff as more companies, particularly tech companies are moving into the Warehouse District, such as Galvanize and WebPT.
WebPT in particular is one of the district‘s and Phoenix’s greatest startup stories. The company specializing in physical therapy software, closed its Series A funding round and moved into the Warehouse District in 2010. It has since grown close to 300 employees all working at its office – a repurposed warehouse – just off of Fifth and Grant streets.
“When we were looking for space, we wanted to find somewhere that was creative,” said President and Co-Founder Heidi Jannenga.
She said the space allowed them to create an open atmosphere, with collaborative spaces, that also allowed them to maximize their space.
Tenants of historically preserved buildings such as Jannenga appreciate the novelty of being in a functional space with a tie to the past while those behind the rehabilitation efforts find satisfaction in the process.
According to Cowley, his whole office loves these types of projects because it “gives everyone a sense of pride that we’ve taken something old, run down and underutilized and spent a few dollars and with a little creativity turn it into something special.”
Contact the reporter at Charles.T.Clark@asu.edu.
