As debate heats up once again about the proper size of Missouri's Historic Preservation Tax Credit program, supporters of the credit face a perception problem: The sense, across much of Missouri, that the big-dollar program primarily benefits St. Louis and Kansas City.
The notion that the state's two big cities gobble up most of the historic credits is a frequent concern among critics of the program, which cost taxpayers $117 million a year on average over the last three years, and which some in Jefferson City would like to sharply curtail.
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And it's a notion that historic supporters frequently combat by touting the credit's successes in small towns, too, reviving old hotels and school buildings that would otherwise sit vacant.
But based purely on the numbers and where the money goes, reality isn't so different from the perception.
Building Blocks reviewed the last 21 months' worth of historic tax credit authorizations, back through the July 1, 2011, the start of the state's 2012 fiscal year. Many of these projects are under construction right now.
In that time, buildings in 18 counties in every corner of the state were authorized for historic credits, from St. Joseph to Cape Girardeau, Hannibal to Joplin. But the overwhelming majority of historic tax credit projects were located in two places: Jackson County and the City of St. Louis.
Those two counties combined for 201 of the 237 authorizations since July 2011, and absorbed 90 percent of the dollars — $148.4 million out of $168.4 million that was authorized. Most of that went to projects in the City of St. Louis.
View Where Historic Tax Credits Go in a full screen map
Even within St. Louis, the credits were used far more in some places than in others.
There was a string of high-dollar projects along the central corridor, from downtown out to St. Louis University — mostly conversions of big, old industrial buildings into something new. There were also many smaller rehabs in residential neighborhoods across the near south side, place like Shaw and Tower Grove South, Benton Park and Soulard that have seen a lot of rehab activity in the last decade or so.
But there have been no historic tax credits authorized for buildings in south city west of Kingshighway, and just a few any place north of Delmar Avenue. Of the six projects in St. Louis County, four were in Clayton. St. Charles County had one project, on St. Charles' historic Main Street.
This data only covers the last 21 months, but look back through prior years and the trend is the same. The most expensive historic tax credit projects, and most of all the projects, are concentrated in Missouri's two big cities. Everyplace else there's a smattering.
This makes sense, of course: St. Louis and Kansas City are where most of the old buildings are and where there's more companies and people to occupy them. And there is no doubt that the historic tax credit has been a hugely important tool in redeveloping St. Louis, especially downtown, the Central West End and the south city rehab belt. There's an argument to be made that those projects — and their role in boosting the city's economy — help the entire state.
But, despite the persistence of its supporters, the historic tax credit has remained a hard sell to budget-conscious outstate lawmakers whose districts rarely, if ever, see a project funded by it. And looking at this map, it's not hard to see why.
