Tax Credits Help
Building Restorations
In Two Towns

Downtown projects in Rochester and Bethel will receive thousands of dollars in state tax credits allocated by the Downtown Development Board late last week.

The non-profit owners of Pierce Hall in Rochester will receive tax credits of $131,250.

The owner of the Lavere Block on Main Street in Bethel, Kevin Barry of Woodstock, will receive tax credits of $53,900.

The allocations were among a dozen projects statewide sharing $1.6 million in credits against state taxes, mostly income taxes. The tax credit program is a way of funneling money into rehabilitation of vacant and underutilized space, in order to create office, retail, and residential units.

All the projects are located in state-designated downtowns or villages.

Both Rochester and Bethel have the Village designation.

In Rochester, Valerie Levitan, executive director of the Pierce Hall Community Center, Inc. said the non-profit corporation is "thrilled" to receive the assistance.

"We expect to use this money to do all of the necessary infrastructure items, including, we hope, the sprinkler system," she said.

"Phase 2 of our plans, which was making the building safe and usable, has been the most important step in the process so far, and now we can move forward on the other phases, including the elevator, auditorium, meeting rooms, tower, senior center, youth center, and fitness center."

The project in Bethel will help complete a conversion of the building into mixed commercial and residential space. Exterior improvements focus on delayed maintenance and the interior improvements will bring the building up to code and install sprinklers and bring the unoccupied basement into use.

The Lavere Block is the building next to Bethel Mills Kitchen & Bath on Main Street, currently housing the Cockadoodle Pizza Café and several offices, as well as apartments.

When tax credits are awarded to a non-profit organization, as in the Pierce Hall case, they can be sold (usually at a discount) to a bank, which can then use them to reduce its state tax liability.

The legislature and Gov. James Douglas recently enacted changes that allow Vermont to better leverage federal tax credits as well.