Main Street Columbus Inc. and developers are pushing to revive a long-dead low-interest loan program that helped spruce up downtown buildings.
The statewide program, which ended in 2006, connected Main Street district building owners with local banks, which took turns providing low-interest loans of about $10,000 to $60,000.
Main Street Columbus Director Amber Brislin has been trying over the last several weeks to revive the program just in Columbus.
If enough banks agree to participate, she said the program could be in place shortly after the new year.
The market is tough for developers right now because banks are loaning more conservatively since the recession began, said downtown properties owner Chris Chain.
Instead of loaning 90 percent of the total cost of a project, like they did before the recession, they only loan about 70 percent now, said Chain, who is also owner of Renovations in Mississippi.
“If the banks will ease up a little bit, which they will, you”ll have a lot of development,” he said.
Although now is “probably the worst time than any to spend money on property,” said Chain, who has several renovations in the works now.
“I don”t know how many people would take (the loan),” he said. “I”m ready to do it right now.”
Brislin said she knows of at least three other downtown building owners interested in the loan program.
“There”s definitely interest in it,” she continued. “If the banks are willing to go forward, Main Street would act as a liaison to gather the parties together.”
Although some bankers were unsure whether the program was needed, Columbus Trustmark President Bart Wise said he was open to the idea.
“I would be interested in seeing if everyone could agree on it,” he said of the city”s six banks.
The program would require tweaking because of new laws and regulations, but there”s “probably a way to get together some kind of program,” Wise said.
Although the program could help developers, Main Street Central Division Director Jan Miller said downtown had already undergone extensive renovations.
“Now, there”s no need for it,” she said of the loan program.
Sam Kaye, owner of LPK Architects at 114 Fifth St. S., said that even when the original Main Street loan program was in effect, it “never really caught fire.”
“It”s just not something that jumps out at (renovators),” he added.
The economy is also keeping many people from renovating now, even with substantial tax incentives, Kaye continued.
“A lot of the buildings that are eligible, the owners don”t want to renovate right now,” he said.
But if the program is revived, developers could apply for a wide variety of state and federal tax incentives and grants on top of their loans.
Right now, there is a 26-percent federal tax incentive to renovate business structures. The inventive is higher than elsewhere because the state is named in the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act of 2005.
What”s “really exiting,” said Main Street Columbus employee Katherine Munson, is that the federal tax credit can be used at the same time as a 25-percent credit from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
The National Park Service”s Mississippi Department of Archives also offers a 20 percent tax credit for substantial rehabilitation of historic structures used by business, Munson said.
In addition to tax credits, there are several grants available through the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Mississippi Arts Commission, she added.
Main Street Columbus members can also use the staff architect at little to no cost, Munson said, bringing the cost of renovations down even further.
The problem with grants and tax credits is the bureaucracy, Miller said.
“That”s why most people don”t do them,” she said. “Because of the paperwork.”
That”s one of the reasons Main Street organizations are needed now to help sift through the available financing options, she said.
Starkville, in September, became the 50th member of the Mississippi Main Street Association.
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