AIA Bulletin

 12 Historic Preservation Projects Approved For Tax Credits

Two historic, vacant buildings on Capitol Square were among 12 projects across Ohio that were awarded shares Thursday of $23.7 million in refundable state tax credits to help finance their redevelopment.
The Hayden Buildings at 16 and 20 East Broad Street received a tax credit worth $4.6 million.
Plans call for combination of the structures in a $27 million project to create an upscale boutique hotel under the Indigo Hotel flag, part of the Intercontinental Hotels Group.
A second, $1.3 million tax credit was awarded for the $10.3 million renovation of the Born Capital Brewery Bottle Works in the Brewery District. The vacant building will be converted into residential rental units.
Gov. Ted Strickland unveiled the Columbus projects Thursday morning, and then set out for similar announcements in Youngstown and Cleveland.
Director Lisa Patt-McDaniel of the Ohio Department of Development scheduled other related stops for projects in Ironton and Portsmouth.
In addition to Franklin County, tax credits were approved for preservation projects in Guernsey, Hamilton, Cuyahoga, Lawrence, Lorain, Scioto, Geauga, and Mahoning counties.
The single-largest amount of tax credits, worth $7.1 million, went for three projects in Hamilton County.
Gov. Strickland said the state’s bipartisan job stimulus plan authorized $120 million in refundable tax credits to owners of historic buildings who were willing to rehabilitate them for commercial or residential use.
“We are preserving our historic buildings of yesterday, and while doing so we are creating jobs today by strengthening these buildings and spurring new development. And we are protecting and renewing these grand structures as a legacy for generations to come,” he said.
In October 2008, 46 applicants were approved for $74 million in credits, leveraging $415 million in private funds.
Approval of the $23.7 million Wednesday leaves about $22.1 million for awards in 2010.
Mr. Strickland said the program has created 7,000 construction jobs during 2009 alone.
“These credits not only help protect historic structures, but they are in fact an essential part of our urban agenda, helping to attract other investments leading to improvements in our downtowns and urban centers,” he said.
The latest around of credits are expected to leverage at least $159 million in private investments.
“The buildings here at 16 and 20 East Broad Street, the Hayden Buildings, are both historical and economically central to Capitol Square and really to all of downtown Columbus,” Gov. Strickland said.
“The Hayden Building here at 20 East Broad is the oldest remaining building on Ohio’s Capitol Square, I’m told. The ‘new’ Hayden Building, constructed in 1901, at 16 East Broad, was the tallest building in Columbus when it was constructed and it once held the offices of the National Football League,” he said.
Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman said the program helps redevelop “historic jewels” that otherwise could face demolition.
“This city has a history, and not a great history, of tearing down buildings that should have been preserved many, many years ago. It’s programs like this that keep these buildings economical in the sense of redeveloping them to some positive use,” Mr. Coleman said.
Michael Schiff, managing director of Schottenstein Stores Corp., said developers hope the 117-room Indigo would have a niche, particularly for business travelers in search of “a smaller, quaint” hotel.
“We’re hoping with the announcement the mayor recently made about the 500 room hotel they’re going to do over across the street from the Hyatt Regency that’s going to bring a lot more activity to the city,” Mr. Schiff said.
The Hayden Buildings project is expected to create 110 jobs, with completion anticipated in December 2011.
Other Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit recipients, with total project cost, and tax credit value:
·       Berwick Hotel, Cambridge. Total cost: $6.8 million. Credit: $1.12 million.
·       Cincinnati Color Building. ($14.1 million), ($1.25 million).
·       Germania Hall, Cincinnati. ($7 million), ($1.69 million).
·       Mercer Commons, Cincinnati. ($18.2 million), ($4.16 million).
·       Cowell & Hubbard Building, Cleveland. ($8 million), ($1.6 million).
·       Berg Building, Ironton. ($8.1 million), ($1.95 million).
·       Apollo Theatre, Oberlin. ($9 million), ($2 million).
·       Horizon House, Portsmouth. ($6.9 million), ($1.54 million).
·       ASM Headquarters & Geodesic Dome, Geauga County. ($5.8 million), ($1.38 million).
·       Youngstown YMCA. ($9.3 million), ($1.11 million).

A raft of state agencies will have to justify their existence in the coming months as the Sunset Review Committee prepares to evaluate their missions and efficacy.

Licking County commissioners voted Monday to create a countywide department that would replace the one being abandoned by the city for financial reasons. The smaller county department would handle residential and commercial inspections and issue building permits but would save money by using on-call employees for some of the work.  Mayor Bob Diebold said closing the city’s department would free up money that could be channeled toward Newark’s 2-year-old property maintenance division, which has been hamstrung by understaffing.

He said he thought City Council members would be open to the idea of creating more positions to handle complaints and code enforcement.”Everyone on council knows what issues we are facing,” Diebold said. “We can’t keep up with one inspector.” Newark Safety Director Roger Stollard is working on a proposal for a beefed-up property maintenance division but did not want to present any plans until a county building code department was assured.

In addition to more staff, Diebold said it was important to revisit parts of the property maintenance ordinance to shorten the time between complaints, notifications and enforcement.  Diebold and Stollard have been the city’s principal property inspectors since late July, when the lone property maintenance official was laid off.  Commissioner Brad Feightner said the county department should be in business by early January and is expected to be self-sufficient after initial start-up costs for salaries, office materials and vehicles.  T

he county has set aside $350,000 for salaries for the first year, said Commissioner Doug Smith.Newark’s department brought in more than $430,000 from inspection and permit fees through mid-August.  Monday’s vote creates four full-time positions: an administrator, chief building inspector, plans examiner and administrative assistant.  Closing the city code department frees up money for its property maintenance division.

Ohio’s minimum wage will not go up in 2010 as an indirect result of the stagnant economy, the Department of Commerce reported Thursday.

Under the constitutional amendment passed by voters in 2006, the minimum wage is tied to annual increases in the Consumer Price Index and changes effective January 1 depending on the inflationary rate over a 12-month period prior to each September.

The CPI dropped by 0.2% from Sept. 1, 2008 to Aug. 31, 2009, according to DOC.

Therefore, the state’s minimum wage remains at $7.30 per hour for non-tipped employees and $3.65 per hour for tipped employees.

The requirement applies to employers who gross more than $267,000 per year, DOC noted. The minimum wage for employees at smaller companies as well as 14- and 15-year-olds is $7.25 per hour.

The wage is tied to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for urban wage earners and clerical workers for the 12-month period prior to September. This index declined by 0.2 percent from, resulting in no change to the state minimum wage.

Licking County Considers Outsourcing Building Department Licking County officials who have been working to create a building-code department now are thinking about farming out the work to a private company. Commissioner Doug Smith said officials began to consider having an outside agency provide its building-code services after learning that both Fairfield and Pickaway counties use a similar system. In each case, county employees provide a local point of contact, with the bulk of plan reviews and site inspections done by Asebrook & Co., a Columbus architectural firm. Licking County commissioners began advertising for bids for similar work Wednesday and plan to unseal them as early as Sept. 24. The county has been looking at ways to create its own department since Newark City Council members said this year that the city can no longer afford to keep providing residential and commercial inspections and issuing building permits for most of Licking County. The department began to drain city coffers last year when the economic slowdown pushed costs, including salaries, over revenue generated from fees and inspections. On Monday, the city’s service committee forwarded an ordinance to the council that, once passed, would give the rest of the county 90 days’ notice that the city planned to terminate its building-code service contracts. Smith met Wednesday with representatives from local city and village governments and the building industry to gather feedback about using an outside firm for the service. He said the department will have to be self-sufficient, whatever its final makeup. “It’s very difficult, nighon impossible, to justify the funding of a department,” given the county’s current economic forecast, Smith said. The county is committed to rebuilding a local department, he said, once the economy and building activity rebound. Luke Baus, an architect and member of the local Building Industry Association, said the plan did not relieve any of his concerns about the loss of local control, and the specter of having to drive to Columbus to look over building plans one on one with a code official. Baus said he planned to attend a Building Industry Association meeting this week and expected members to express disappointment because “it feels like we are so far away from a local code department.” Commissioners said a lot will depend on the bids they get for the work, and what type of budget they can create for a county office. While most at the meeting agreed that a county department should at least have a three- or four-person staff, commissioners said it was too soon to say whether they could fund such a department.

Governor Strickland recommended labor-management liaison, Richard Murray, as the replacement for former Ohio School Facilities Commission (OSFC) Director Michael Shoemaker and the OSFC accepted the recommendation Thursday on a 3-0 vote.

Since 1996, Murray has led the Ohio Laborers-Employers Cooperation and Education Trust (LECET), a collaboration of the Ohio Contractors Association and the Laborers’ District Council of Ohio, a construction union of 15,000 members. “Because the quality of our classrooms will determine the quality of jobs and capital investments in Ohio, the state is committed to providing the best possible facilities for our students. I am confident that Rich will lead the way in providing strong and effective management of the Ohio School Facilities Commission,” Strickland said in a separate statement. “Rich recognizes that quality construction is critical for effective, safe learning environments for our students. His ability to handle complex labor and management issues and his background in the public and private sectors will be valuable experience as he takes on this new role.” In his other public capacities, Murray serves as mayor of Marble Cliff in Franklin County. Before arriving at LECET, he was an independent consultant to environmental firms and underground storage tank owners on tank clean-up and claims, as well as the executive director of the Petroleum Underground Storage Tank Release Compensation Board. He also served as assistant to former Gov. Dick Celeste and legislative director for the Ohio Contractors Association. “Our public schools are perhaps the most important buildings in our state and must be constructed by the highest standards,” Murray said. “I look forward to utilizing my years of experience in construction and bringing labor and management together to construct modern, energy-efficient schools that are conducive to the needs of the state’s evidence-based education reforms.” Securitization of Ohio’s tobacco settlement will accelerate school construction with $4.1 billion and an estimated 250 campuses certified for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) in the next two years. OSFC Chairwoman J. Pari Sabety, state budget director, highlighted the importance of that goal in remarks following Murray’s election. “Ohio has more schools scheduled for the program than any other state on the list,” she noted, giving him marching orders in his first commission resolution, “Directing the Executive Director to Make Recommendations to the Commission on Building Quality 21st Century Learning Environments.” The resolution assigns Murray the task of providing OSFC recommendations in four policy areas: 1) “A clear definition of a 21st century physical learning environment and the development of a strategic plan to achieve the building of 21st century learning environments.”

2) “Quality construction practices and sustainable funding” after tobacco proceeds are exhausted. 3) “Effective community partnerships….to promote co-location, collaborative services and joint-use agreements between schools and community partners, or collaboration between school districts and/or community schools.”

4) “Strategic alignment of the commission programs and design manual to support the education reforms adopted in HB1” – specifically – “how to better align 21st century educational and facilities needs with the education reform components.” Sabety said Murray could establish work groups for each of the four policy areas with a “broad range of stakeholders involved in school construction.” She was asked after the meeting whether Murray can mend some of the distrust between stakeholders who emphasize quality school construction and those who emphasize cost-effective school construction. Sabety pointed to his “extensive background in labor-management cooperation.” “This is a guy who knows how to traverse that dialogue and earn respect from both sides of the aisle,” she said.

SAO College 2009 will take place this month in three cities: Sept. 10 at Cleveland State University, Sept. 17 at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College and Sept. 24 at Columbus State Community College.

The deadline for registering for the Cleveland session is this Friday, Sept. 4, by 12:00 noon.

Sponsored by the State Architect’s Office, SAO College educates interested parties on the proper design management and construction management of state projects. SAO College is attended annually by more than 200 participants, including architects, engineers, contractors, construction managers and state agency or state college/university representatives throughout the State of Ohio.

Up to 7.0 learning units are available through the American Institute of Architects (Health, Safety and Welfare approved) and the Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board. All attendees will receive certificates of attendance for use with other professional organizations requiring continuing education credits. To register for SAO College, go to http://www.ohio.gov/sao and click on “SAO College Fall 2009.”

The Ohio School Facilities Commission (OSFC) Monday named its chief financial officer (CFO), Eric Bode, interim director through Thursday, Aug. 27 when a permanent director will be named, OSFC spokesman Rick Savors told Hannah News. That is the next regularly scheduled meeting of the commission. Bode has been CFO since December 2000. Prior to joining OSFC he was fiscal officer at the Ohio Emergency Management Agency and a budget/management analyst at the Ohio Office of Budget and Management. He is a 1988 graduate of Georgetown University with a bachelor’s in economics and a 1993 graduate of Harvard University’s Kennedy School with a master’s degree in public policy. This appointment follows the firing of Michael Shoemaker as executive director by Gov. Ted Strickland late last month (see The Hannah Report, 7/30/09); no reason has been offered as to why although some Capitol Square watchers have opined that Shoemaker ran afoul of the administration because he was critical of administration proposals on class sizes – sizes that have not been factored into the rebuilding of Ohio’s schools or that he has not taken an approach on prevailing wage at school construction sites that the administration would prefer.