Municipal Association of SC and Main Street SC Launch On-demand Economic Development Training

Federal, state and local tax credits can turn historic buildings in need of renovation into a brand-new economic engine, but when these financial tools are overlooked by landlords, businesses and the development community, communities can struggle to reactivate commerce in their historic commercial districts. For that reason, the Municipal Association of SC and Main Street South Carolina have released Economic Development Incentives: A Collaborative Process, a video explaining the many facets of the historic tax credit process.

Photo: Savage Craft Ale Works 

The on-demand, 25-minute video helps showcase the opportunities of national, state and local incentives to encourage the reuse of historic downtown properties. It highlights a catalytic preservation case study: the development of the Savage Craft Ale Works in West Columbia. The facility uses the historic fire department and city hall, built in 1925, of Brookland, the former name of West Columbia, as well as the adjoining historic city jail. 

Through the video, viewers can hear how this project worked from City of West Columbia officials; staff from Rogers Lewis Jackson Mann & Quinn, the law firm involved in the project; as well as staff from Hood Construction and Tax Credit Marketplace. They explain how developers can stack together tax incentives to make historic redevelopment projects financially feasible, how to handle the necessary research and even the passion that developers need for bringing specific historic properties back to life. 

The video shows the possibilities of South Carolina’s surviving historic buildings, and the innovative ways that downtown communities can maintain their character while also welcoming the highest and best use of their buildings. 

The new video joins the Municipal Association’s Economic Incentives Toolkit, which explains a variety of tax credits and gives examples of each in action. It covers 

• the federal historic rehabilitation tax credit, 
• SC historic tax credit, 
• federal new markets tax credit, 
• SC state abandoned building credit, and 
• the Bailey Bill property tax incentive, which local governments can make available by ordinance.

Find the new economic development incentives video here.