 Alright, we love seeing everybody joining from all over the country. We're above 500 now we have more than 1000 folks registered for the webinar we're so excited about all of you being here so just going to give it a few just a little bit longer because I keep seeing people join just a few more minutes. Let's get started. Good afternoon everyone. I'm Catherine Malone France. I'm the Chief Preservation Officer at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. And it is my great pleasure to welcome you to today's forum webinar about new tools to support the creation and strengthening of the state historic tax credits, all across the country. This webinar is offered through the preservation leadership forum, which is a professional membership program of the National Trust. And I just want to thank each of you for being here with us today. Now, for more than 40 years the National Trust has supported the creation of state historic tax credits as a fundamental tool to preserve and adaptively reuse historic buildings, spreading the benefits of preservation more broadly, and more deeply. We see how strong state and federal historic tax credits make rehabilitation financially feasible, increase the overall number of buildings that are preserved and create local jobs, including those in the preservation trades and heritage tourism. Also, adapting historic buildings for new uses avoids the carbon emissions that occur when materials for new buildings are mined, manufactured and transported. Many historic tax credit projects include energy saving features from better insulation to solar panels that help older structures perform as well or better than new green buildings. We are extremely pleased to report that today 37 states have historic tax credits that strengthen our communities, whether in small towns or big cities, or all the places in between. We are so pleased to be able to build on our past work in support of state historic tax credits with the support of David and Julie Eline. The elines understand firsthand the importance of effective advocacy for historic tax credit programs. They were involved in efforts to strengthen and protect the Wisconsin State Historic Tax Credit, which is now, thanks in large part to their efforts, one of the strongest rehabilitation incentives in the country. It has made possible transformative innovative projects like the award winning rehabilitation of the Milwaukee Soldiers Home to provide housing for veterans and their families. And the Milwaukee Soldiers Home is my background today. With the continued and generous support of the elines we're proud to announce today, the release of two new tools, a state historic tax credit resource guide, and an interactive online digital map that will help advocates stakeholders and policymakers develop and strengthen state historic tax credit initiatives. Again, to strengthen communities across this country. In June, we'll add an additional tool when we release a report that highlights case studies of state tax credit successes and innovative best practices. Now, before our speakers begin, I want to share just a couple of housekeeping notes. We will take questions from the audience throughout the webinar. You can send those questions using the Q&A function and then we'll answer them at the end of all of the presentations. You're also invited to share your own ideas and experiences through the chat function. We love a lively chat at the National Trust and I already see that happening. The closed captioning function is enabled for this webinar and after the recording is captioned, we will send it directly to you via the email that you use to register. And now I'd like to introduce our panelists for the webinar, who represent a cross section of people who are advocating for and utilizing state historic tax credits. We're hearing from them one after another, and then again we'll open it up for a Q&A. So first I am very pleased and honored to welcome former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist to today's webinar. Senator Frist served two terms as Tennessee's senior senator, and in that time was elected Senate Majority Leader from 2007. In addition to being a passionate health care advocate as a preeminent cardiothoracic transplant surgeon, Senator Frist is also passionate about historic preservation. Senator Frist and his wife Tracy Frist reside in Tennessee, which unlike all of its eight neighboring states does not currently offer a historic tax credit. Senator Frist recently published an article in the Tennessee end that everyone should read because it presents as persuasive a case as can be made for the creation of a Tennessee State Historic Tax Credit and is applicable to state historic tax credit advocacy all over this country. We really look forward to our ongoing work with the friends Frist to support a state tax credit in Tennessee and we are particularly appreciative of Tracy Frist service on our National Trust Board of Trustees where she chairs the preservation and historic sites committee. And now on today's panel will hear for two folks from the National Trust, Renee Coleman, who is probably known to everyone on this call, because she serves as the senior director of outreach at the National Trust and since 2004. She has been assisting legislators and advocates across the country with the adoption, expansion and protection of state historic tax credits. She is truly an evangelist for the state tax credit. And Kate Linser is our senior GIS project manager at the National Trust where she uses GIS to research and analyze preservation issues such as sustainability, equity and economic development. I also want to recognize two other core members of the team at the National Trust who are assisting with this project, but we're not on the panel today. Shaw Sprague, our vice president for government relations and Jim Lindberg, our director of state and local policy. And now the other panelists are Irvin M. Henderson. Irvin Henderson is the principal of Henderson and company, a consulting firm and development company with particular expertise in community development and commercial residential and enterprise development. Among his many national roles in real estate development, Irv currently serves on the board of Main Street America, and he is the immediate past board chair of the National Trust Community Investment Corporation. We're also honored that he's a trustee emeritus of the National Trust. Whitney Lanassa is the senior managing director of Stonehenge Capital's tax credit services business line. She is responsible for overseeing a team that has invested more than $4 billion in projects that utilize federal and state incentives designed to stimulate private capital investment in targeted industries and generate growth. And Michael Sothin is the executive director of Main Street Beatrice in Beatrice, Nebraska, population 12,300, where he guides downtown improvements, events and economic development efforts. He resides in Steel City, Nebraska, population 60, where he and his wife Megan have purchased an 1890s grocery store with plans for its rehabilitation. And now it is my pleasure to turn the virtual podium over to Senator Frist. Thank you. Catherine, thank you. And I'm excited to be with all of you today to talk about the value of historic tax credits and also to share new tools developed by the National Trust that will help advance historic preservation in our states and communities. As mentioned, my wife Tracy and I are indeed passionate about historic preservation. Catherine mentioned that Tracy serves on the board of the National Trust and together we've spent the last eight years restoring and living in an 1846 farmhouse on the old Natchez Trace and the Harpeth River right here in Middle Tennessee. Interestingly, our home rests on a 40-acre archeological site surrounded by ancient temple mounds of a once vibrant village or a town of the Mississippian era right about a thousand years ago. Tracy and I consider ourselves stewards of the home and of the land around it, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. And the home and the land has been known for a long time as Old Town. You see the earliest colonial explorers of the region saw evidence as they were coming through of these huge commanding earthworks, these towering temple mounds and ancient stonebox graves, and immediately recognized that this had been a 12-acre, by today's standards, 12-acre walled town center, about 1200 AD, from about 1100 AD to about 1350 AD, 250 years. A mystery to them at the time, those early settlers referred to the land as the Old Town and that name has stuck and it has remained attached to the home and surrounding property. Tracy and I have had the privilege to live and experience what we regard as an exceptional inspirational history every day. We feel the meaning and we feel the spirit of the place and of the generations, literary generations that lived, that worked, that celebrated on this land, and it helps us start our day every day with real purpose. Now today we're talking about the state historic tax credits because these types of incentives often mean the difference, the critical difference between saving the physical evidence of our heritage of the history that defines a place and losing it and losing it forever. As places like my hometown of Nashville experienced dramatic and energizing, exciting, and sometimes unbelieving growth, the structures that have served for generations as the center of social and spiritual and cultural and economic energy and vitality are unfortunately being torn down or being left in disrepair. Because of a notion, a misguided notion that is always cheaper and better to build something new, rather than restore and preserve the old. Just as an example, Nashville's nationally celebrated music row, the structures in the neighborhoods which which actually tell the story of country music. It planted the seeds that fueled literally fuel the creativity of music city USA. Yet yet this music row is being demolished at an alarming rate. In fact, in 2015 it was recognized by the National Trust on its 11 most endangered list and between 2013 and 2019 over those six years. At least 55 music related buildings were torn down, replaced by apartments and condominiums. The places that defined the heart and the soul of Nashville and of Tennessee, in many ways, and indeed of country music globally are quickly one by one, and I'd say quickly and unfortunately disappearing lost forever. You know Tennessee is is one of 13 states now that currently does not Catherine mentioned this have a state historic tax credit. But in the states that do we can point to meaningful really huge progress in Louisiana, every $1 the state provides in commercial historic tax credits spurs nearly $9, nine times the amount in additional economic activity. In Arkansas, the state's $21 million in state historic tax credits has drawn nearly $224 million in private investment. And this this is interesting in Bristol, Tennessee, Bristol, Virginia, it's one city of Bristol lies directly on the Tennessee Virginia State line, and it uniquely demonstrates with a sort of a perfect experiment how Virginia's state historic tax credit has made a huge difference. The Tennessee doesn't have one. So literally from one side of the street the street divides Bristol Virginia from Bristol Tennessee. And indeed the Virginia side of the dividing street has seen 12 historic tax credit projects totaling over $70 million. The Tennessee side on the other hand has received less than one seventh of that investment with only three compared to 12 only three historic projects totaling only about $10 million. And it's not that Tennessee, or the Tennessee side lacks the history, or the heritage is because Tennessee lacks the financial incentives for the job creating preservation to occur on a regular basis. State historic tax credits are truly, and we'll talk more and more about that over the next hour or so but are truly the key to saving and revitalizing bringing to back to life more of the the story buildings of our downtowns and our communities, while repurposing them for all sorts of economic growth spurring economic growth in fact at the local level in those communities. And I say Nashville and I talked about music row in the cities but it's not just the cities it's not just the big cities. I cited Nashville, but these tax credits make a meaningful difference in rural communities. Something that that Michael so then the executive director of Main Street Beatrice will speak to and just a little bit. So, what does this tax credit do the credit works by incentivizing substantial rehabilitation of historic buildings for income producing or business use. It requires preservation of the, the historic character of the property. It makes it feasible to preserve older structures that would otherwise be too expensive to cost prohibitive to renovate or to restore. Rehabilitation cost just for example might include the electrical or the mechanical might include plumbing might include fire safety, include a whole range of things that you might not actually put into the category of rehabilitation but all can be lumped together to be able to create this incentive for being able to preserve over time, the buildings the structures that are so important to our culture and community. In addition, what studies have shown is that surrounding properties also benefit with a demonstrated increase in property values in those surrounding areas. Studies have found that a state's investment in historic rehabilitation and this is fascinating to me pays for itself through tax revenues and the other benefits within four to nine years after a building becomes operational. You know, of course, the whole concept of historic tax credits are not a new idea they've operated successfully at the federal level our conversation today is the state level, but they've operated at the federal level for more than 40 years. And their value was reaffirmed in the 2017 tax cuts and jobs act. In fact, if you go back, President Ronald Reagan made a federal version of the historic tax credit permanent, providing a 20% income tax credit for the rehabilitation of historic income producing buildings that are certified historic structures. And according to the US Department of Interior, those incentives have become the nation's and and I quote, most effective program to provide historic preservation and community revitalization through through historic rehabilitation in quotation. And if you look at the data, what's the product been the latest figures show that 47,000 completed projects, since its enactment have been have been realized, leveraging over 116 billion dollars in private investment. This is at the federal level. It's also, I should have a conservative approach to creating jobs and stimulating the economy. The federal credit has created over 2.4 million jobs nationwide, and the state versions just further built on this. Right here in Tennessee and my own state and where Tracy and I live a broad coalition of Tennessee mayors and county executives have written a letter recently showing their support for a state tax credit. And again, I'll pick up and look at very exact words. I quote, we hear time and again how property owners, especially those in areas with smaller populations are unable to finance the needed repairs for their older and historic buildings. A tax incentive they write for the real rehabilitation of historic buildings will attract investment and breathe new life into our communities. I quote, we're taking steps in the right direction direction in Tennessee right now with the creation of a historical development grant program to support rural preservation, which I commend Governor Lee, our governor here in Tennessee for establishing, adding a tax credit with build on this accessible program and make affordable preservation accessible statewide. In closing in my view, the evidence is crystal clear that state historic tax credits are an extraordinarily effective way to create meaningful public private partnerships that preserve our heritage that revitalize our communities that direct private investment where it is critically needed. And I'll turn it over to Renee Coleman, senior director for the National Trust to explain how this new tool can help states that are considering a historic tax credit of their own. Senator Christ, I, I think I speak for all of us here when I say that that was an amazing presentation and having grown up going to Bristol on the weekends I can tell you that it's a town near and dear to my heart so I'm really glad that you use that as an example. If I could have the next slide please. It's our great pleasure today to introduce to you guys a new resource guide for putting in place state historic tax credits. It has been a labor of love for us to pull all of this information together for you in this new resource guide, and it comes with three different sections so I wanted to walk through with you, sort of the benefits of each of them. The first section is all about the benefits of this type of incentive as Senator first so eloquently said, from both the legislators standpoint as well as from the users of the historic tax credit so there's a variety of benefits that I think you all will enjoy reading about. The next section is based on our research and what we've seen in provisions that lead to effective programs and by effective programs we mean those that have led to the most rehabilitation. Finally we have a state by state chart and the very back of the report, which lists out all of the interesting provisions and we'll go through those with you. So, next slide please. So as the Senator was talking about the research shows that state to start tax credits payback about a little more than a third in their investment during the construction phase, and what you find fascinating when you read all of these reports. It doesn't vary too much by state so it's in that range of 33 cents to about 42 cents on the dollar that goes back to the state during the construction phase. So it is almost universal and it is, it's a great figure and is very appealing to state legislators to know that their investment is paid during the construction period. What's even more exciting to them though I think is that the state continues to get their return on their investment over a period of years and I think Senator French mentioned four to four to nine. So we have seen studies as a quick as seven. And what it's saying is that the use that goes in to those abandoned previously underutilized buildings continues to generate income that pays back the state's investment in the tax credit. I wanted to call out this example specifically because it is from Bitterford Maine, which was a great American Main Street award winner. And this shows the utility of these buildings after they've been put back into productive use, and the way that the taxes are generated, whether it's on the end of the staffing costs and the food and beverage and all the other taxes of whatever building, whatever use goes back into that building. I wanted to call out specifically an example from Homer in Louisiana because I recently learned about these projects and I thought it would be a great illustration to make the point that state legislators are also really like the fact that these tax credits are only released by the state when the buildings are put back in use. So the private investment has been made. They're now being occupied and they are they're not going anywhere it's an investment that the state is making in a place that is not, you know, the industry is not going to pick up and go anywhere. So this is showing that just get to the right page please. So this town of Homer, Louisiana has a population of 2500. And these two tax credit projects were recently completed. And on the left you'll see the Colvin Smith base and McKay law firm, which renovated two buildings and it for its seven full time employees. Next slide. And we'll take a little closer look at this rehabilitation of an abandoned building to make the point that these historic tax credits fill a critical funding gap. Homer main street board member who renovated this abandoned building for three offices and found that the $43,000 in anticipated tax credits filled the financing gap in order to make this renovation possible. So it's wonderful that they have taken on these renovations using state tax credits. And we congratulate them on their work. Next slide. So, as also Senator first mentioned, the 11 most endangered places, we'd like to do things in 11th at the National Trust. So when you read the report, you will be fascinated to know that we had 11 benefits that we came up for a great historic tax credit program. And so I would like to highlight two of those components. One of them is that the credit needs to be predictable. And by that, the people who own the building or leasing the building or want to develop the building need to know that those credits are going to be there in order for them to undertake the rehab. The bankers want to know that the credit is going to be there, the people doing the financing, the people who need to make this project happen, need to have that in order for this program to be successful. So the credits being predictable as a big component, as well as having a mechanism in place so that the credits can be transferred to an entity that has the actual state tax liability because it's, it's not an incentive. You can't get it into the hands of the entity that has the tax liability. Next slide. So the state chart has a lot of great information for you that you will find fascinating, you can go dig into more research, do more research on a particular state's program you can look at statutes. You can see all about the income producing credit as well as those credits that are just for homeowners. I really want to draw your attention to the additional credits and state priorities which is fascinating reading because it shows how creative states are in addressing their priorities. And so you'll see all different types of ways that states have modified this type incentive to, to rehabilitate specific types of structures or specific areas of their of their state so there's a lot of creativity in this that you'll be able to see. You'll also see any type of caps, and how they're actually using the mechanisms are using to get the tax credits into the hands of those with the tax liability. So I'm really hoping that this chart will continue to grow and that will have to make more and more changes frequently. And I think somebody already shared the information in the chat, but there's good news that Minnesota's Governor's budget actually reinstates their state of start tax credit so that's exciting, exciting news. Next slide. Lots of ideas for you on how you can use this new tool or these new tools. But basically, it's goes down to learning using them to learn more about your own state tax credits. Using them to learn more about your neighbors tax credits a lot of times people want to know what's happening just over the border so they can make the argument for their own state tax credit. And I also want to put down the idea about advocating for state historic preservation offices. They're often the folks who are processing the applications. And so making sure that they have all that they need in order to process the state tax credit applications quickly and efficiently is a really good use of your advocacy time. And finally, sharing this on social media, talking to reporters talking to friends talking to allies and other types of industries is a great, great thing to do with this particular report. Next slide please. Now this is where you all get to add your information into the chat because we are entering into a phase two of this project. And we're very interested in knowing what types of things that you would find helpful for a state historic tax credit to do for your state. It's a great way to create more housing to do more unsustainability, and the ideas that are here, and you feel free to add in the chat, whatever your ideas are. These are all things that states have experimented with. So, look forward to pulling out more information based on what you all consider as a priority. And now I'd like to turn it over to my colleague Kate Munzer. Thank you. I'm here today to share the interactive tools that the National Trust created as a companion to the resource guide that Renee just talked about. I'm going to take a few minutes and walk you through to show you the main features of the tools. However, before we begin. Next slide please. A couple of points that I'd like to mention. First, we strongly recommend that you use the tools on a desktop or a laptop computer. We'll be working in the coming weeks to push out more mobile friendly tools. And second, as you'll see in the walkthrough, we're asking for your feedback on the tools. So please, through the feedback form, let us know what to keep and what to improve in the next release of these tools. So with all of that being said, let's go ahead and jump into the tools. When you arrive on the landing page for the tool, you'll notice there are three main ways to interact with the data. Map, data, and compare. You can access each of these three options through the menu at the top, or you can scroll further down the page. And you'll see the same three options here. Let's start with the map. When you arrive at the map, you'll be able to quickly view the states, those shown in yellow, that currently have a state historic tax credit program in effect. From here, you have a couple of options. First, you can click on any state to pull up detailed program information. For example, let's click on Pennsylvania. And you'll see here on the right hand side, state specific information populates automatically. If you want to remove the selection, just click anywhere outside of the state. Towards the bottom of the page, you can filter the map based on specific program attributes. For example, let's toggle on offers credit for homeowners. And you'll see the map responds to only show the states that offer the credit for homeowners. Let's say you want to dig a little bit deeper. Let's also toggle the option for credit for income producing property. The map further refines the results. In this case, the map is showing only those states that offer both a credit for income producing properties and a credit for homeowners. Keep in mind that states will only be shown in the map if they meet all of the criteria you've selected down in the filter area. The second way to interact with the data is through the data page. This page enables you to view the data in a table format. Similar to the map, there are filters you can toggle on and off to refine the records shown in the table. This time, let's toggle programs that allow the credit to be carried forward. You'll notice the table responds to show only the programs with a carry forward provision. From here, you can sort the table on any field. For example, let's sort by the number of carry forward years. If we click once, the table will sort in ascending order. And if we click again, it will sort in descending order. You can also export the table by clicking here in the very corner right hand side of the table on the data action button. The third way to interact with the data is through the compare option. This option enables you to compare the basic characteristics of up to three programs side by side. So let's choose three neighboring states, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota. The data down below will populate automatically as you choose states. You can pretty quickly see that there are some similarities and differences between these three programs. For example, we see currently that Minnesota does not offer a program. However, both Wisconsin and Iowa offer 25% credit for homeowners. There are various other similarities and differences you'll notice between programs. The last thing I want to mention is the about page. Towards the bottom, you'll see a list of important definitions that are used throughout this tool and in the PDF resource guide. The about page also contains a link to a brief feedback form. Since this is the first release of this tool, we really look forward to hearing how each of you are using the tools and really what can we do better in the next release to make sure that the tools are more user friendly and more robust and more relevant to your work. Just click on this button and you'll be taken to a short form. And if you prefer your comments can remain anonymous. I will be in the Q&A at the end of the webinar and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have about these tools. And next I'm going to pass over to her or take it away. Good afternoon to everyone. I want to thank the presenters before and especially the senator for great presentations and great advocacy. As a developer, and as a developer of a number of historic properties and a number of different cities, the state historic tax credit is essential to us. It's used in conjunction with the federal historic tax credit, and often is used in conjunction with new markets. The historic preservation office is the regulator and the source for your application activity, and they work with the legislatures obviously to make this incredible tool available. And it often is the linchpin that makes a deal work. It increases the equity and lessens the debt and in an interest rate rising environment. I want to talk about how important it is to be able to use less debt on your projects and be able to use more equity. It enables projects that are needy for extra resources. Now those kind of categories include Main Street. Hello to all of my Main Street buddies out there. It includes rural projects that often need a little bit more capital to make it. It includes ethnic projects very often projects in the African American community and the Native American community in the Hispanic community in the Asian community. Very often these projects need a little bit more capital to get over the hump. And then finally, if your project is very difficult, and you end up with more money being spent on engineers and architects, you may need the extra capital from the state historic tax credit. Next slide, please. Actually, next slide. So I wanted to show you several projects that really, really make a difference here. In this case, you're looking at the Newton out of square in Pittsburgh, and you'll see the job creation happening literally as we speak. Actually, the gentleman that is holding the poll is also the leader of a small business that is working here. These adaptive reuses very often add to essential services being brought to underserved neighborhoods. It's a significant amount of community engagement. And we find that historic preservation often is the heart and soul of community development revitalization in an area like this one in the Hill District in Pittsburgh. This is the Hill, which is the predominate black community in Pittsburgh, and this is the middle hill where you see the project going up. The rendering that was on the previous slide is the rendering for new granada square and the new granada theater. Now, Pennsylvania is a perfect example of one of the kinds of state tax credits that are available in Pennsylvania the credit is limited. It's a 25% credit, but it is capped to $500,000. Whereas you have others in other states where the amounts of the credit are between 20 and 25%, but very often have a capped in the $5 million level. And there are some states that do not have a cap. And so therefore you're able to literally use it 20 with 25% of your qualified rehab expenses. And just think about it. If you've got 20% from the federal for your qualified rehab expenses, and you've got 25% from the state. You're a long way towards completing your capital stack, especially for the difficult projects. Next slide. Now, here we have the amazing Prince Hall Grand Lodge that was built in 21 and was built for about $800,000 where the masons themselves the Prince Hall masons raised every dime for this project with their own contributions. What you're looking at is the historic grand ballroom. This will be revitalized by my firm, which is historic district developers for the work that we're doing actually in Birmingham. We have a 25% Alabama state historic tax credit. We're very, very glad to have it. However, it is oversubscribed. So in this case, we will have to wait approximately three years to utilize this credit. Fortunately, we've been in line for two years already. The state historic preservation office is a great collaborator here, and they work with you on every aspect. In this case, they actually submit your federal application. It is very important that in states that have caps and in states where the historic tax credit is not permanent. It's very important that we do the legislative advocacy that Senator frist and others were talking about, whereby the researchers know that this is true community development, true economic development, but with such an incredible opportunity to highlight our heritages, our histories, and indeed, our great places. In this case in Birmingham, I want to issue a thank you to Mayor Woodfin who has been intimately involved in the entire preservation of the fourth Avenue historic business district. Now here we have what I have to say is the gym. This is historic fountain hall on the campus of Morris Brown College in Atlanta. Now, fountain hall is known to many of you because this is the place where on the second floor, w e b Dubois had his office and wrote the souls of black folk. What you may not know is that many of the civil rights marches many of the civil rights interventions were planned in historic fountain hall. This is a $27 million project. You'll notice that the qualified rehab expenses are 24.63. That's a federal contribution of $4,236,000 and a state contribution of $4,926,000 because in Georgia there is a $5 million cap. You add an $8 million capital campaign with the foundations and the corporate givers in the Atlanta area, and you end up with only $9,817,640 in debt, an incredible way to view an incredible artifact. Next, please. So now I turn it over to my colleague Whitney. And thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you so much to all fellow panelists for having me here. It is just a great pleasure to be here and to see people talking about preservation. I hope that I can bring my experience working with states to enact new programs or improve programs and really help you determine whether it's good for your state whether improvements are needed or to go and enact a new program. For the first time in the capital, we monetize federal and state credits. I've been here since 2009. The historic credit is really one of my personal favorites. It's something tangible that you can see, you can feel, you can take your colleague, colleague through your family through through those projects. And I'm very impressed and his wife come forward as a historic champion. It's just great spending time in states you really need someone to champion the historic preservation and state tax credits. So thank you so much for doing that. We really appreciate it. Next slide. Next slide. Next slide. This is just a snapshot of some of the different state incentives around the country these include not only historic credits but film credits new markets credits and other credits. There are six different state programs across 35 states. And you can really see the bet these state tax credits or economic development tools to really help spur the economy and really to get these states to have new growth. Next slide. The important thing about the process for historic credits is it's really a four step process and when I'm talking to new advocates and really legislative champions there's one thing on this slide that I think very important to highlight. The owner of the building who is doing and completing the rehab does not get the credit until that project is complete. So you've done what you said you're going to do you completed the rehab and importance with your part, part two, and you've received your part and that usually in the state credit those were sort of tip-a-cated. So I think that's important that you're not getting the money before you've completed the project for the actual getting the tax credit once you've said what you're going to do, and you've completed the project that gives a lot of legislators and states comfort that these projects are there to stay and that they've been completed. Next slide. Today's world with the rising cost. We saw in the pandemic the cost of construction rising and they continue to rise as well as a high rate environment across our portfolio the things that we're seeing the project that we're seeing get completed are those projects that do have an additional state tax credit tool that helps fill the capital stack. The other projects that are really making it through the process they have a full capital stack they can move forward to construction. Some of our other historic projects are really sitting on the sidelines until the rate environment comes better or the price of construction goes down. So again the state tax credit tool is so important to getting these projects over the finish line. The state these are a few of our projects that we worked on across the country from Louisiana, I have state to Oklahoma, Ohio, Texas. These are states that have embraced the state tax credit as a tool to really couple with the federal program and get these projects off the ground. You see these, these projects in small towns in in our in our main streets but also in big cities as well. A variety of projects with a variety of different ultimate uses from world class hotels to residential apartment units to affordable housing to sports complex to office space, different uses, again but all putting these beautiful structures back into service. Next slide. It was mentioned that not all state programs are created equally. Each state program is slightly different. I know one of the questions that I'll go ahead and maybe tackle in this piece was just how do you get a state credit in a state that doesn't have income tax. We've worked very closely in Texas with with the stakeholders there to figure out a way to get a state tax credit where there is no Texas income tax and that was by offsetting the Texas franchise tax. And since the enactment of that program in 2013, there's been an additional tax that's been added to offset which is the insurance premium tax. So for Tennessee and Florida, maybe offset such as the insurance premium tax or franchise tax of one is this would be good offsets for credit so you can have a state program, even if there is no state income tax. The ability to transfer the credit freely is also a very good benefit. It allows you know the, the owner of the property to have more access in the market to be able to take that credit and monetize it so they can complete their construction. Next slide and building coalition. This is one thing that we spend a lot of time here in my house data Louisiana is getting all of the different stakeholders in a room it you have a cross section of different people that care about preservation from your historic preservation consultants to real estate professionals architects accounting firms law firms lenders investors, all coming together to say this is an important tool. This is one that we've seen work in our state, you have an economic study to show the impact of that tool. It takes a village to get these together it is a lot of work I've worked with Renee on many, many different states and trying to pull the stakeholders together. At the end of the day, the legislators want to see, and our elected officials want to see that this is a tool that can be used, not only in the big cities but also the small town so showing those case studies everybody keeping good records of their projects to really show the impact is really, really critical. Next slide. So my final takeaways with state credit programs is it's now it's probably most important now to have state credits to get these projects completed and say these historic structures. Again and the rising in the high rate and high cost environment, these are the projects that need support to get make them complete the capital stack and get them over the finish line. So while state programs are created equal, and not all of them are managed the same, but working with our partners were able to create programs that work, and that are reliable. And then lastly, it does take a village, reaching out to your professional friends colleagues clients stakeholders that have done historic preservation, restorations of the past is important to really be able to pull together and unified to get these tools, not only enacted but also to continue to have these tools so that we're able to use them for our projects. Thank you so much. I'm going to turn it back to you to Michael. Michael. Yep, thank you Whitney. Hello everyone, Michael here with Main Street Beatrice again and so many of these folks before me have said and you know the historic tax credit is certainly a valuable tool, but I don't know about a lot of you guys you might feel a little overwhelmed by the idea of man how the world do I get started with this, certainly someone like me coming from a rural community. That started with Main Street 10 years ago didn't know much about the tax credit, frankly, Nebraska didn't have a tax credit at that time. And it's definitely can sometimes be overwhelming, especially in a rural community, we're not dealing with developers all the time. We're oftentimes dealing with the mom and pop shop down the street the person who maybe owns one historic building and doesn't have experience with this and so I guess the little things that I can say is that it can work in those arenas as well let's go and go to the next slide. And so, as we talk about what the impacts can be, I can share a little bit from my experience here in Beatrice Nebraska. Again, we're not the smallest of rural communities but 12,300 we like to see ourselves as a big little town. We did not see our downtown actually get on the national register until 2016. Luckily for us that was about the same time that Nebraska enacted its historic tax credit. We're definitely a little bit slower to the game for a variety of different reasons because, hey, you know, downtown change and ours finally kind of aged in our period of significance is 1870s all the way to the 1960s. But also being in a rural community, these tax credits are often seen as something that benefits the urban area. And that's especially the case if your state does not have its own state tax credit. So if you look at the map of where tax credit projects happen, when you add in a state historic tax credit, you start to see more rural projects make sense. I think Irvin and several others mentioned this, it creates that actual, it really completes that financial stack for these projects. So for Beatrice, we've had three projects that have taken place or are currently in progress. All three of those are smaller projects. They are projects that are, you know, your typical downtown building in most cases. And so that's been been really helpful and it's by no means is that the end all be all the tax credit isn't the perfect fit for every project. We've had a lot more than three buildings rehabilitated since 2016 in our downtown we've been seeing some great success. But as people are looking at buying a historic property, as they're looking at and maybe investing in a historic property, especially if they're not a developer. They want to know, hey, the first questions they're going to ask and maybe you guys are asking this question or you've been asked these questions. If I buy this building, are there tax credits? How can I make this work? Because oftentimes these properties are a little behind the eight ball. They're not necessarily the smartest investment. Maybe the owner before them let them really kind of sink into the dilapidation. But as we talk to people and we start explaining that there are some potential resources available, maybe they're not the perfect fit. But as they start looking at that, whether or not they use the tax credit in the end, almost all of them said that it helped give them confidence that if they got into a situation as they were evaluating the property that there were tools out there to help them whether they need to use the tax credit or not. And so that's certainly great to see. Now unfortunately for us here in Nebraska, we recently lost our tax credit program. It has currently helped over 100 properties since its inception over the last seven years. But as of December 31, our tax credit program expired. There's a variety of reasons for that. A lot of it was just due to a very tight election cycle and a little bit of politics I'm sure. But unfortunately for us as a entity that is a little bit newer to the game of being able to use these in a state that's newer to having these. We have really been able to see those impacts felt almost immediately in April of last year. We still had the tax credit place but we had a major property in our town, the biggest property in Beatrice Nebraska, an old hotel that became vacant. The operation that was there closed after being in operation for 35 years and has left us now with the 50,000 square foot former hotel, most recently used for senior living. And all of a sudden it was vacant as we started talking with developers, because this project's a little bit beyond the scope of a lot of our local contractors and just interested people. We started working out that pro forma and realized that Nebraska has had at that time, a tax credit that had a cap of $1 million. That was a little bit of an issue, but at the same time with the credit expiring we just did not have enough time to be able to figure out the plan for this property. As we started talking with developers this is starting to get into October credit was going to be expiring within a few months and we still weren't ready to be able to cross that finish line on getting this transferred to its new owner. We unfortunately missed out on being able to have this property take place take part in the Nebraska historic tax credit. And so again, that has created at least a million dollar gap with this project, and just the fact that that credit was expiring. You guys talked about it earlier, one of the great things about tax credits is that people want is predictability. We did not have that Nebraska. We still don't have that Nebraska bills have been introduced to look at adding the historic tax credit back in our state making some wonderful improvements to it that are sorely needed. But we here in Beatrice are feeling this every single day, we're seeing residents are driving past this building. It's, it's condition has started to deteriorate. And the loss of that tax credit has created unpredictability, not just with this project, but within our community as a whole. We'll go and go to the next slide. And so, one of the big things that I guess I kind of want to leave people with is that when you're looking at working on a state tax credit, your voice really does make a difference. Over the years, Nebraska's tax credit usually lasted about two years and then it had to be renewed. And we're in the middle of getting that process renewed the goal is that it'll be back in in place by July 1 of this year so fingers crossed that it will be back to be number 38 we were the 37th state in the union I guess we can be the 38th on the tax credit list. But don't underestimate your power, whether you're someone like me, just a small town Main Street director you're a property owner you're just a preservation advocate or you're someone that maybe a little more connected. The voice does make a difference. How I got started and the historic tax credit efforts is I saw that there was a bill for historic tax credits in Nebraska and I showed up the hearing. And I met other people that found this tool to be helpful and really got started on that path but there's a variety of ways you can do this and Nebraska is unique, we have a unique camera. And so only one legislative house that makes a little bit easier. But no matter where you are, you're elected officials they want to hear from you, they definitely want to hear from the people on the ground they want to hear from the people that are having the struggles that are seeing firsthand the pros and the cons, the challenges. And certainly if you're from a rural community. A lot of times, at least in states like Nebraska, it's an urban versus rural divide. And oftentimes the comments here in Nebraska, well, everything's going to Omaha, everything's going to Lincoln. What about the smaller towns. Well guess what, I just showed you guys the impact that it's can have in a smaller town. I live in a village of right now, a little less than 60 people. And guess what, this tax credit can have an impact in that village as well. And so it is easier than you think. Sometimes it's as simple as picking up the phone, just calling your legislator. Sometimes it's about asking others to do the same, certainly banding together helps, but stay with it don't just do it once and think that you're done. Use an example of Nebraska. It's not necessarily a failure of advocacy, but if you start to stay quiet you take your tax credit for granted even if you already got one. You can lose that. There's always room for improvement as well. But definitely try to get yourself started. Ask. If you don't know who to even get involved with with advocacy in your state. Start asking around. I'm sure you'll find them. Definitely talk openly if you've got a chance I saw it earlier whether you're talking with the local media you're talking with your local mayor. If you have a chance and the your local elected officials your state elected officials are in town, attend a meeting even if it's about other stuff where maybe they want to talk about Medicare provider rates and this and that and just kind of a community open house, go there and bring up the HTC, whether you've already got the tax credit or you don't make sure they know the importance of what that tool can be for you. This can be done year round. It's not only when your legislatures in process or when your governor's passing through town. You can be an advocate year round because you never know when it might come under threat or when you might have a chance to do some improvement or who might become a new advocate for you to bring things forward. And if a lot of you guys are asking, can nonprofits be an advocate? Well, Main Street Beatrice, we're a 501C3 and we show up to the Capitol and we tell our story. We can do that with our legislature. We have a we have a phone call with our state legislature every Friday. And so we get a chance to do that we've developed those relationships over the year both on the state and federal level. And because we've seen that when we talk, it does make a difference and so can you. So hopefully that gives you guys a little bit of confidence. We're excited about the future here in Nebraska and across the state. And we look forward to hopefully here pretty soon rejoining the 37 other states and seeing Nebraska regain its tax credit. With that, I think I'll turn it back to our host, and we will move into Q&A. Thank you so much, Michael. And thanks to all of our wonderful panelists today. But Michael, thank you for ending with that reminder that the beating heart of the preservation movement is individuals standing up for historic places that matter to them. And for all the ways that historic preservation helps us build stronger communities and build a better world. But thank you to all the panelists who were incredible in their expertise and their advocacy today. I'd like to ask them to come back on camera and join me. We answer some questions from our Q&A. And the first question is going to be a vocabulary question. And I'm going to send it over to Irv Henderson. Somebody has a question about one of the terms you used, and it has to do with the tax credit in Alabama. What did you mean when you said that the tax credit was oversubscribed? Okay, great. No problem. What it means is that the each year the request for the amount of credits necessary for worthy products and worthy projects is higher than the amount of tax credit that the legislature has been able to allow for that minimum. So each year there are projects that roll over to the next year and sometimes to the next year, which is why it takes as many as three, sometimes even four years, because we don't have as much revenue relief per year as we have product and projects. Thank you so much, Irv. There were a couple of questions or quite a few questions about nonprofits and religious institutions. And so I'll throw this out to the panel. I'll just read one of them. Some communities could use tax credits to help properties that are not income producing but are significant structures in their neighborhoods such as a church. Why not allow these tax credits to be used in these cases? Catherine, do you mind if I start? I bet Renee's got some thought. So in terms of nonprofit use, some states actually call that out and allow that in the statute. So that is something that I think all states should advocate for to be in their state to start tax credit. And again, if you look at that handy dandy chart or use Kate's amazing GIS tool, you'll be able to look at that. And yes, Colorado does. So it's an amazing provision in the state tax credit. I was just going to say when Nebraska, we did have the transferability piece is so key, obviously, to the nonprofit side. And in Nebraska, it was actually allowed for even local government entities were paired in with nonprofits. So if a courthouse renovation was going to happen, they could apply for state historic tax credits and then transfer those and be able to sell them and help defray some of those costs. And so whether it's a nonprofit that's getting apart because nonprofits governments can't use the federal tax credit, but it is a way to certainly leverage resources within your state and protect buildings. Thank you, Michael. I think we've got a specific question for Senator first, if he's able to to join us has to do with the likelihood of a state tax credit in in Tennessee. Yeah, I don't. We just don't know yet. We everybody's pulling together. It's communicating. And even things like this, make it much more likely because it's so understandable. It's so easy to lay out. But the likelihood is just too early to predict now. It's really a fascinating story because the more people hear about it. And for a state like Tennessee, you said well we don't have an income tax and and we explained a little bit of that earlier in the program and therefore how do you use a tax credit. And the whole point is there are ways to use the tax credit whether it's against insurance or franchise taxes or the like, and that takes some explaining to do it's not simple because we don't have an income tax in Tennessee which is one of the reasons people say, well you're not going to get the tax credit but you do. So it's an educational process for here in Tennessee. Thank you, Senator first and we'd love to see Nebraska in Tennessee as number 38 and number 39 but we're so grateful for everyone in both of those states who's working to make that possible. Let's see, I've got another question about the actual crafting of of state HTC's. So, and this may be a question for Renee but I'd love to have others as well. Is it do legislators crafting HTCs for the state level have. Do they use other. These other states legislation sort of as a template. The question acknowledges that you know HTC's at the state level vary widely in their requirements and their structure but I think the person wants to know a little bit about the behind the scenes legislating that goes into the creation of these tax credits. So, so I'll start out and then maybe Whitney you can can chime in because, as you mentioned we've been in this before. People do look at other state tax credits as a guide and for those who are looking for great examples I would start off with the wonderful one in Kansas and Texas and because those do not have any caps on them and if they don't work, then you get the credit so it's a very easy program to understand. And I do think that taking into consideration all the stakeholders voices, and when you're crafting them is important because, in many cases, for example, Main Street communities could use a little bit more assistance and so, giving them additional credits for Main Street communities I think, which are often need that additional assistance. So, Whitney or Michael. I'll add to that I think that that's exactly right. Another thing that you can do when you're going into a state is to look to see if there's any other state tax credit program in that state there might be a mechanism in place that is used to, you know, the administrative side of processing the credits and the tools that go along with that so we see some changes around the administrative side of it. But if you start with one of the programs that you know is doing really well like you said Texas and, you know, Ohio's program has been fantastic. And those you could start with a template on those programs that they generally follow the federal, and then they're kind of tweak to state specifics or maybe even when you talk with the agencies but they want to see anybody else turn our panel want to toss in an answer to that question. Any other bus behind the scenes information about how tax credits get made. I want to say that nonprofits can utilize the credit, if they indeed put together a for profit subsidiary, and that's more complicated. But believe me, it is, if you get a good attorney it's not that difficult. And I wanted to make sure that I said that. Thank you so much. And I, you know, I think that's a great, you always bring an innovative solution and idea to a conversation and so I think that's, that's a great way we're almost out of town to just kind of wrap up and say, you know, again, these state historic tax credits are so powerful, because they do leave room for that kind of innovative thinking and, and creativity, especially of course when they're combined with the federal tax credit but there's a lot of room here to still be defining how we use how we expand and how we improve historic tax credits at the state level. Thank you to this panel who represent again across section of just the most leading edge thinking on this. Before we wrap up, I just want to remind you a couple of quick things. First of all, take Kate up on her offer her request that as you dig in and use these tools we want to hear from you because we're going to continue to improve their functionality so we really welcome your feedback, not just welcome it we're looking forward to it. We are also as I mentioned earlier currently researching thanks to the support of David and Julie Elin, how state historic tax credits are used to help with things like disaster recovery, energy efficient retrofits, and the creation of affordable housing so keep those suggestions coming about the other benefits of historic tax credits, and we can't wait to share those results with you this summer. We do want you to just stay involved with us of course stay up to date on local and national advocacy actions with text alerts from the National Trust when you sign up. You will be one of the first to know about petitions and action updates and other ways to support our work and be a part of it so text saving places to five to eight eight six and you know somebody mentioned this earlier about who do you call when you don't know who to call about a question and preservation call the National Trust. That's what we're here for. And last we want to keep, we want to keep you involved with forum itself we have great webinars that are available in our forum webinar library. And I want to make sure you know about the next webinar, which is going to be February 23. It's from our all star government relations team, who'll be talking about historic preservation advocacy in the 188 Congress. You'll learn about the dynamics of the newly divided Congress and discover what is possible over the next two years you'll hear about efforts to fund and reauthorize the historic preservation fund strategies to enhance the federal historic tax credit and key opportunities to protect diverse historic places that tell our full story. And last of all, again, thank you. Thank you to everyone who attended today's webinar, a huge special thank you to our speakers for sharing their knowledge and their expertise with us. And we'd also like to thank all those people who shared their knowledge and expertise as we were creating these new resources. And again, we'd like to thank David and Julie E line for their support. Together, all of this work adds up to something that's greater than the sum of its parts. It adds up to how we use historic preservation to build stronger communities and to build a better world together. Thank you and have a great evening. Take care.