NCLM Volume 71, Issue 1, 2021

NCLM.ORG 39 Malenfant and Long received emails afterwards from attendees letting them know how informative they found those events. Finally, the actual Showcase began. Elizabeth City and HPO staff targeted five potential projects to tour and scheduled a look at an already-underway tax credit rehabilitation project that had been successfully progressing. The tours took a total of three hours. Attendees saw these five properties in a setting that encouraged creativity and brought out ideas with each additional revealed detail. Then, to gift wrap the experience, they walked through an ongoing project that made the prospect seem all-the-more real. “Often, they cannot even conceptualize how to make it happen,” Long said. “So, we showed them. ‘Here are the successes, and here’s how you can do it.’ The balance between success and how-to was a strong component of this.” Within a few months, three of the five properties had sold and were working with HPO. A fourth, which garnered the most imme- diate interest, was under contract before the deal fell through due to COVID-19, though interest remains high. Malenfant is quick to note that these were not hot properties beforehand. In fact, they had almost no interest. From an Idea to a Model One of the attendees in Elizabeth City was Tina Parker, the Main Street coordinator in Tarboro. Parker had independently thought up a similar idea—some way to generate interest in the local downtown buildings that needed rehabilitation. She discussed the idea internally and found out from a colleague that Elizabeth City had scheduled something that closely resembled her idea. This was April 2019, the same week as the Historic Building Showcase taking place 90 miles east. “I called Elizabeth City and asked if I could shadow the event for the day,” Parker said. “So, I took off for the day and visited.” Parker saw how Elizabeth City had laid out the Showcase and addressed the main obstacles that historic preservation efforts face. She also saw the tools that SPHO brought to bear. “It occurred to me that we could definitely do it. No questions asked.” Again, the planning began in the municipality, and again the HPO partnered with the city to host the event in September that same year. Parker noted what would translate well to Tarboro, and what may need tweaking. Ultimately, with roughly the same design (including a presentation from the same architect that spoke in Elizabeth City), 45 attendees enjoyed similarly informative ses- sions, networking opportunities, and tours. Created by Elizabeth City and then formalized by Tarboro, this idea had now become a model that could travel. That’s not to say there are not significant organizing efforts still taking place behind the scenes. Parker coordinated outreach efforts with the local cham- ber of commerce, organized with the HPO and the Department of Commerce, and worked to reach the possible investors. The versatility of this Showcase mold was proven in the differ- ing makeup of the issue between locations. Though the subject matter and end goals were consistent, the first event hoped to address a backlog in construction opportunities, while the second honed in more on the fearful investor. “They think there is so much red tape to it,” Parker said of the prospective buyers. “But seeing the different projects, the flip of the projects that have taken place, and then being able to hear the numbers and how they work for the projects—that helped out tremendously.” Like with Elizabeth City, the results were impressive. Nine proper- ties were slated to be showcased, and two went under contract in the lead-up to the event; their purchase was actually announced that exact day. Another property that was showcased sold within two weeks. Those buyers then bought a second neighboring building a short time after, and three other properties have signifi- cant interest, according to Parker. “I went into it with the idea, if we could just turn one property, that was success for us,” Parker said. “It’s definitely proved to be more successful than what we thought that it would be. Anything that came out of it was worth the time and the effort and the little bit of money that we put into it.” Momentum, and What’s Next From its inception, the Historic Preservation Tax Credit has been an undisputed success, despite the uncertainties that surround it for new participants. The program was created in 1976, then expanded in 1998, and since that expansion, it has assisted more than 3,000 projects that have expended by private investors an estimated $2.7 billion. These projects have a real, on-the-ground impact. Between blight and benefit, Elizabeth City and Tarboro are now enjoying the latter. “It's not really about even what it's going to be. It's about an atmo- sphere and creating an experience for people,” Malenfant said. “I've seen a huge, huge rise in the pride in downtown. Some people had kind of written it off as no longer relevant. Now there are people saying, ‘Oh my gosh, I wish I had purchased the building in downtown. I wish I had been part of this renaissance.’” The showcases have pushed the line of that interest in preserva- tion and rehabilitation even further, and Bartos hopes that they can continue to impact communities that may have struggled with vacant buildings for years or decades. Had COVID-19 not struck, more of these events would have taken place across the state, she says. They’re looking to officially relaunch the Historic Building Show- cases in summer 2021, pandemic permitting. “The enthusiasm from Elizabeth City and Tarboro was just off the charts,” Bartos said. “Those were both really great days.” This article was written by the North Carolina League of Municipalities in partnership with Hometown Strong and UNC’s Homegrown Tools. For a full case study on Elizabeth City’s historic preservation strategy, visit our Case Studies section at HereWeGrowNC.org. The Homegrown Historic Showcase FROM ITS INCEPTION, THE HISTORIC PRESERVATION TAX CREDIT HAS BEEN AN UNDISPUTED SUCCESS, DESPITE THE UNCERTAINTIES THAT SURROUND IT FOR NEW PARTICIPANTS. THE PROGRAMWAS CREATED IN 1976, THEN EXPANDED IN 1998, AND SINCE THAT EXPANSION, IT HAS ASSISTED MORE THAN 3,000 PROJECTS THAT HAVE EXPENDED BY PRIVATE INVESTORS AN ESTIMATED $2.7 BILLION.