October 29, 2024 — A new grocery store is doing business in a critically underserved area of Troy, N.Y. The store, simply named Bargain Grocery, sells fruit, vegetables, meat and other essentials at 30% below the price of big box stores.
Bargain Grocery is a project of the Compassion Coalition, a religious non-profit organization focused on addressing food insecurity. It has one other storefront in Utica. What makes the Troy location special is the building that houses it.
The building, located at 558 River Street, was once a factory which made boxes to hold collars manufactured by the factory across the street. The factory was transformed in 2021 into mixed-income apartments.
These projects, and others like it, pop up all over the state. When owners of income-producing properties that also happen to be in an historic building seek to rehabilitate the building, they can take advantage of Historic Preservation Tax Credit programs which the New York State Historic Preservation Office (part of the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation) oversees.
“This program, which has been around since the 1970s, started as a federal program. The federal government gives 20% back of qualified rehabilitation costs in the form of a tax credit,” said Historic Sites Restoration Coordinator and PEF member Sloane Bullough. “In 2006, New York State signed a state equivalent into law that adds another 20% or 30% depending on the size of the project.”
Bullough said that since 2010, much of New York has taken advantage of the program, especially in the Buffalo area. About $13 billion in project expenses have been stimulated in New York State, which includes money spent for the creation of jobs. New York State leads the nation in use of Historic Tax Credits, with nearly $4 billion spent in total rehabilitation costs from 2018 to 2022.
For her part, Bullough wears many hats as part-educator, part-scientist, part-architect and part-historian. She holds workshops to inform the public on how these tax credits are used, reviews documents to make sure that projects are adhering to the standards of the program, and delivers instruction on how best to deal with rehabilitation efforts.
“I sometimes focus on things like the mortar mixture between the bricks. It must be the right softness, or else the surface of the bricks could peel off because some were made in the early 19thcentury,” said Bullough.
Buildings across the state that have utilized the program include the Lion Factory building in Troy ,which has now become a 151-unit apartment building, the former Utica Steam & Mohawk Valley Cotton Mill, now a mixed use space for housing and business, and the Northland Workforce Training Center, formerly a factory in Buffalo.
The federal and state Historic Preservation Tax Credit programs both have criteria that must be met in order to apply. Both require the income-producing property be on the National Register of Historic Places individually or as part of an Historic District. The work performed, both interior and exterior, must meet the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation and be approved by the National Park Service. The state program offers an additional tax incentive for properties located in qualified census tracts.
Despite it being law, Bullough said that distinction from the state is important, because it can often bring much needed revitalization to communities that need it. While the history of these buildings is important, Bullough said, equally important are the communities that benefit from investment.
“When the law was passed, it was limited to distressed census tracts and economically distressed communities; all of Troy is eligible for this program,” said Bullough. “And imagine the good this grocery store is going to do thanks to the program. The neighborhood had a lack of access to healthy, affordable food; a higher poverty rate than the surrounding neighborhoods; and families who struggle with issues faced in communities like these.”
New York State also offers an Historic Homeownership Rehabilitation Credit Program that gives homeowners a state income tax credit equal to 20% of certain expenses associated with repair, maintenance, and upgrades to historic homes in qualifying census tracts. Projects are reviewed and approved by State Historic Preservation Office staff.
“All of the information for both programs and information about how property owners can utilize the incentives are available on our website,” said Historic Preservation Communications Specialist and PEF member Aine Leader-Nagy. “These programs are for the public and we want people to know about them and use them.”
For Bullough and Leader-Nagy, these programs and the many others offered by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation mean that New York history has a chance to be preserved for generations. It also means that the state’s underserved communities get access to the things they need to do more than just survive.
“When you talk about these historic spaces returning to their roots, you have to understand who was there before,” said Bullough. “For the box factory and so many other factories in Troy, it wasI Irish immigrants, many of them women. They came here because the collar industry provided jobs and a future. And now places like the box factory are providing those opportunities again.”