Updated: 3:57 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 18, 2014 | Posted: 1:44 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 18, 2014
Downtown Middletown
project awarded $600K state tax credit
By Ed Richter
Staff Writer
MIDDLETOWN —
A project to rehabilitate one of the
tallest buildings in Middletown
received a financial step forward Thursday.
The Ohio Development Services Agency has
awarded $600,000 in state historic renovation tax credits for the Goetz Tower
project, located at the southeast corner of Central Avenue and South Main Street.
Developer Mike Robinette, a principle of
Grassroots Ohio, said the state tax credits along with another $600,000 in
federal tax credits will assist in moving the more than $3.07 million
restoration project forward. The group already has private lender to finance
the venture.
“It’s a crossroads for the project,”
Robinette said. “We’ve been working on this for three years and it’s good to
get the last element of funding out of the way.”
He said the seven-story, 30,000 square-foot
structure, which houses a Fifth Third Bank branch, will include 24 market-rate
apartments on the second through seventh floors. It also includes 2,000
square-feet of retail/commercial/restaurant space with a possible coffee shop,
wine bar and bookstore when the project is completed. He said interior
demolition and renovations could begin as early as March. The project is
expected to take about 18 months and is tentatively slated for completion by
fall 2016.
In addition to Robinette, the partnership
group includes David Gose and is also working with historic building restoration experts Steve
Coon, David Jursik and Joe Parsons.
The
partnership group applied for the tax credits in September that will offset
about half of the project’s cost, Robinette said.
The state awarded $41.8 million of the
historic preservation tax credits for 31 projects across the state during this
award cycle. These awards will be used to leverage $600 million in private
investment for those projects. However, the developers do not get the tax
credits until after the project construction is completed and all requirements
have been verified. The goal is to get these properties rehabilitated so that
it would drive future investment in those neighborhoods.
“This is the first large scale residential
rehabilitation and renovation project in downtown Middletown
and could be a catalyst for future revitalization,” said Denise Hamet, Middletown’s economic
development director. “We haven’t done something like that yet.”
Hamet anticipates other projects applying
for these grants in the next application cycle in March as well as others in
the following cycle in September. Those projects applying in March could
include the Manchester Inn and the Snider Ford/Sonshine buildings, she said.
“As these renovation projects reach
fruition, they will broaden the revitalization of our city’s core by providing
additional elements toward creating a successful downtown where residents can
live, work and play,” Hamet said.
The Middletown Building
and Deposit Association erected their seven-story Art Deco bank and office
building about 1930 as a symbol of prominence and stability. The partnership
will name the soon to be redeveloped property into the Goetz Tower,
named for the original building architect, Harold W. Goetz, Sr. Following
rehabilitation, the building will house 20 residential units.
Hamet said Fifth Third donated the property
to Grassroots Ohio in the July 2012 for the purpose of historic redevelopment.
The property’s value at the time of its donation was $190,000. The nonprofit
development group is focused on the redevelopment of historic structures in
southwest Ohio
and applied for historic tax credits in September 2014.
The redevelopment of the property will
result in the reuse of nearly 30,000 square feet of space that has been vacant
for many years and will bring new market-rate housing and retail space to the
City’s downtown core.
The tower is located across the street from
the Cincinnati State Technical and Community College, which opened in the fall
of 2012 and has seen its enrollment nearly double since it first opened. “This
project will build on that success by offering services in support of students
and staff at Cincinnati
State,” Robinette said.
Stakeholders in downtown Middletown have been working for the past
several years on redeveloping the City’s core and this project is expected to
help accelerate that area’s renaissance.
The project supports the city’s strategic
plan for downtown.
“This project is great example of a
public/private collaboration,” Hamet said.
The project has received funding support
from the community, including:
·
Duke Energy, the Charlotte-based energy provider for Ohio and Kentucky,
gave the project a boost with a $23,700 grant to help Grassroots Ohio assess
the redevelopment project for predevelopment tax credits.
·
The City of Middletown
gave its support for a U.S. EPA grant of more than $13,000 for a Phase 1
Environmental Assessment.
·
The Middletown Community Foundation gave the group a grant to
expand the South Main Historic District to include Goetz Tower.
(This was a necessary step before the group could apply for historic tax
credits.)
·
The Cincinnati Development Fund gave developers an $85,000
development loan.
Mr. Robinette is also involved with the restoration of the Rose Furniture Building.