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November 8, 2004
Historic Homes May Get Tax Deduction HELP ME HELP OTHERS Diane Giacobbi
Realtor With a Heart 617.293 .1240 I will donate 2% of my commission in your name, to your favorite charity, for all direct or referred sales.
PHOTO: JASON BURRELL
617-723- 4240 diane@homesboston.com
A townhouse on Montgomery Street in the South End that has taken advantage of the tax program by Jason Burrell Courant News Writer
A new nonprofit is working to conserve historic architecture in the area by offering property owners a way to save on their taxes. The National Architectural Trust preserves historic buildings by granting property owners tax deductions in exchange for their commitment not to alter their properties’ façades. The tax benefit is available through the Federal Historic Preservation Tax Incentive Program. “We use this tax incentive program as a marketing tool to get the owners to agree to participate in the preservation,” said Mory Bahar, area manager for the Trust. The program provides tax deductions worth on average more than 10 percent of a property’s entire value based on independent appraisals. In exchange, property owners grant a conservation easement to the Trust in perpetuity. The easement gives the Trust the right to reject any alteration to a property’s façade if
it would change its historic character. The tax benefit is available to anyone who owns a building, residential or commercial, that is registered nationally as a historic landmark or is part of a federal historic district. According to Bahar, 1,200 Beacon Hill properties, 2,000 Back Bay properties and 3,300 South End properties are eligible for the tax benefit. “Before last year, in the state of Massachusetts, where we have 30,000 qualified historic buildings, nobody educated the public about this because there was no trust similar to ours,” Bahar said. The Trust was founded in Washington, D.C. in 2001 and expanded to Massachusetts and several other states last year. To date, Bahar has registered about 100 properties whose values range from $270,000 to $20 million. Although thousands more qualify, Bahar said he does not need that many participants in order to preserve neighborhoods. “If we get two or three build-
ings on each block, we can basically protect that entire block. They can’t really put up some major new development because we get in their way,” he said. Bahar said that many residents tell him that the tax program is “too good to be true” because local ordinances already prevent them from altering their façades. Bahar explained, “The reason Congress passed the law is that all these local ordinances and commissions are subject to change. We don’t want the preservation of some of these historic gems to be at the mercy of local politicians.” Many properties in Boston fall short of qualifying for the tax incentive program because they are only registered as local and not federal historic landmarks, according to Bahar. He cited Bay Village and Gainsborough Street in the Fenway as examples. “The neighborhoods can hire an architectural historian and say please put the appropriate papers together so we can apply for the national registry of historic landmarks,” he said.
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PUBLIC MEETING FOR NATIONAL EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASES LABORATORIES FACILITY The National Institutes of Health will hold a public meeting in Fanueil Hall, One Dock Square (corner of Congress and North Streets), Boston, MA, 02109 on Wednesday, November 10th from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. The purpose of the meeting is to solicit public comments regarding the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Boston University’s proposed National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories facility at 600620 Albany Street on the Boston University Medical Center campus. Comments provided during the meeting, as well as those written comments received during the public comment period, will be considered in Final EIS. This public meeting is part of the public comment period initiated with the publication of a Notice of Availability of the Draft EIS published in the Federal Register on October 22, 2004. The public comment period will end on January 3, 2005. Comments can be sent to Valerie Nottingham, Division of Environmental Protection, The National Institutes of Health, B13 Rm. 2W64, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20892 or emailed to nihnepa@mail.nih.gov
A Christmas Prelude John W. Ehrlich, Music Director
Respighi: Laud to the Nativity Britten: Ceremony of Carols Saturday, November 20, 2004, 8:00 PM Emmanuel Church 15 Newbury Street, Back Bay, Boston Tickets $40, $30. Student and senior discounts. For further information call (617) 492-8902 or visit
www.spectrumsingers.org