New government incentives will help many owners of older houses and commercial buildings repair or rehabilitate their buildings. Two free webinars presented by staff from the State Historic Preservation Office will review the basic guidelines for the programs and answer questions about the application process.

The programs require that buildings are individually listed in the State or National Register of Historic Places, or in a listed historic district. Additionally, the buildings must be located in an eligible census tract. The New York State Historic Homeowner Tax Credit Program will cover 20% of qualified rehabilitation costs of owner-occupied historic houses in certain target areas, up to a credit value of $50,000. The Historic Commercial Tax Credit will cover up to 20% of qualified rehabilitation costs up to a credit value of $5 million. Commercial property owners must be approved for the federal historic preservation commercial tax credit, which offers an additional 20% credit on qualified rehabilitation costs. Note that the Commercial Tax Credit program includes rental housing.

Date: Tuesday, August 17, 2010

1:00 – 3:00 Historic Preservation Tax Credit Programs for Commercial Properties

3:30 – 5:00 Historic Preservation Tax Credit Programs for Homeowners

&#8220The Historic Preservation Tax Credit can be a profoundly effective tool in fostering sustainable neighborhoods and revitalizing vacant buildings,&#8221 said Carol Ash, Commissioner of the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. &#8220It’s been said that the greenest building is the one that is already built. Under this new initiative approved by Governor Paterson last year, owners of qualified historic homes could qualify for tax credits ranging from $1,000 all the way up to $50,000 for home improvements, including repairs to doors, windows, roofs and plumbing, heating and wiring systems.&#8221

For information about the tax credit programs and further details about the webinars, visit the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation website at www.nysparks.state.ny.us/shpo.

To register for a webinar, send an email to [email protected] and type &#8220commercial webinar&#8221 or &#8220homeowner webinar&#8221 in the subject line. Registrants using that address will receive a response with information only on logging in. For questions regarding the webinar, contact Sloane Bullough at 518-237-8643, ext. 3252 or [email protected].

Registration is limited. Information about the tax credit programs can be found online at http://www.nysparks.state.ny.us/shpo/tax-credit-programs/.

The webinars are sponsored by New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation and the New York State Education Department.