HELENA — A federal tax credit has helped spur nearly $60 million in historic building preservation work in Montana since 1990, according to a study set to be released this week.
The Montana Historic Preservation Alliance and the National Trust for Historic Preservation prepared the report as Congress considers overhauling the nation’s tax code.
The preservation alliance said that the credit has been instrumental in helping building owners keep and restore historic structures. Montana also has a state tax credit that combines with the federal credit.
The report found that $59 million worth of remodels on 60 historic buildings came from about $12 million in state and federal tax credits.
“Quite simply, preservation tax credits have helped to transform communities across Montana, catalyzing building projects, breathing new life into struggling downtowns and creating well-paying construction jobs in the process,” Chere Jiusto, executive director at the Montana Preservation Alliance, wrote in the report.
The report looked at several projects, including the restoration of the Grand Union Hotel in Fort Benton. Supporters said such buildings anchor the downtown area and draw visitors.
The hotel was built in 1882 and was vacant with boarded windows before it was rehabilitated in 1999 for $2 million. The owners received a $380,000 tax credit to help with the project, and it is now a working hotel and restaurant with conference facilities.
The Historic Sears building in Butte cost $8 million in a rehab completed in 2010, and received $1.7 million in federal and state restoration credits. The building, built in 1910, had been boarded up in the 1990s.
Some backers of the federal tax overhaul argue the credit is among those that should be abolished as part of plans to simplify the tax code.
The alliance said that axing the historic preservation tax credit would harm the revitalization of small, rural towns in the state.