In Birmingham, you are seeing cranes downtown working on Historic buildings that have been vacated for 30 and 40 years. Many of these projects have been made possible due to the assistance of the Alabama Historic Tax Credit. A few of the projects recently completed in Birmingham were the Lyric Theatre and the Redmont Hotel.
It was reported yesterday by AL.com that Anniston Senator Del Marsh intends to allow the tax credit to expire due to not enough available data and wants a third party study done. As Senate President Pro Tempore, Mr. Marsh has the authority to release which bills are voted on. Is it possible that one man can stunt the economic growth of a city or a state? With Senator Marsh’s outlook, further developments of Historic properties will fizzle and buildings that have been vacant for years will continue to be an eyesore.
It was reported earlier this year in a study commissioned by the Alabama Historical Commission that for every $1 invested, $3.90 was returned. It doesn’t take a businessman like me or a mathematician to understand that this is a no-brainer for economic impact benefitting this city/state. I’m excited to get twice the return on my investments, and doing cartwheels for 4 times!
If you are a homeowner in Alabama and especially Jefferson County, your home values have the potential to be adversely effected with reduction of commercial growth of our city. Allow your voice to be heard! Please repost and spread the word.
