City creates tax incentive to help developers transform heritage buildings

A new incentive offered by the city hopes to encourage more developers to breathe the next hundred years of life into heritage buildings.

Non-residential properties seeking a heritage designation can qualify for a tax increase exemption for 10 years, up to a maximum of $50,000. To qualify, owners or developers must invest a minimum of $100,000 toward restoring the property.

Scott Ashe, heritage planner for the city, said the new benefit would help better preserve Edmonton's history.

“It can be expensive for owners of non-residential properties to renovate their heritage properties,” Ashe said in a statement. "Sometimes it's easier and more profitable to tear the building down and put something else in its place.

"We hope this new incentive will help building owners make the decision to rehabilitate heritage buildings," he added.

The city already provides a one-time grant to help developers restore heritage buildings of up to 50 per cent of restoration costs to a maximum of $500,000.

The new benefit will be offered in addition to the existing grant dollars.

Since the historic register was created in 1985, the city has designated 170 buildings as heritage buildings.

Chris Dulaba, placemaker with Beljan Development Corporation, said heritage buildings help maintain Edmonton's urban fabric, but developers can be wary of redevelopment projects.

"Any time you are doing any type of alterations or redevelopment to it there's a lot of unknown risks and with that carries a lot of uncertainty," Dulaba told CTV News Edmonton.

"So the ability to have certain financial incentives or tools to help us offset a bit of that risk has been a very important part for us in taking these projects on."

In the past, Dulaba said the prevailing mindset in Edmonton was to tear down old properties to build new and exciting projects.

"As we've advanced over the years and decades, we've realized that we've lost a lot of our important artifacts of the past, and we need to take a different approach in how we ultimately integrate and incorporate these important types of buildings," he added.