More buildings could get face-lift as popular improvement program returns

Owners of older buildings now could get some help from the city in restoring them to their former glory.

The city’s historic facade easement program has been reinstated after being discontinued several years ago.

“We’re going to breathe some new life into it,” said City Councilor Curt Soehl, who co-sponsored the budget amendment for the program with Christine Erickson.

“The facade program is a significant interest among property owners downtown and throughout the core.”

Before and after $120,000 in funding passed last week, the city has heard from numerous property owners interested in applying, urban planner Adam Roach said.

“We have had interest from a number of folks that represent properties on East Eighth Street, South Main Avenue and West 10th Street,” he said.

“The facade program has been tremendously successful since its inception in 2001 and demand has always outpaced available funding. As you can imagine, there was some disappointment when the program went away.”

How it works

The historic facade easement program involves the city purchasing an easement on the facade of a qualifying building – anything 50 years or older can be considered historic, Roach said.

The cost of restoring the facade is used in determining the purchase price of the easement, with a maximum allowed per building:

• The standard maximum award per building is 75 percent of the eligible project costs and capped at $80,000.
• The maximum award for buildings on the National Register of Historic Places is 100 percent of the eligible project costs with a maximum award of $100,000.
• Any award cap may be increased by up to $25,000 for buildings on corner lots and with two prominent facades for funding the restoration of both facades.

As the owner of the facade, the city controls any future changes, ensuring property owners maintain the historically appropriate aesthetic.

While most of the 40 facades that have been restored to date are within the downtown area, the program expanded in 2013 to capture greater participation.

“Sioux Falls has a nice stock of buildings outside of the downtown that have historic or cultural significance,” Roach said. “Some of the projects leveraged by expanding boundaries include the former Longfellow Elementary School, Merit Hardware and the Heritage Park Fire Station. We do not plan on making any changes to the previous program boundaries.”

Difference-maker

But the effect of a facade easement goes beyond aesthetics.

A sampling of projects that participated in the program shows significant increases in taxable valuation, along with spurred adjacent investment.

“I would put this in the top seven of items that saved our downtown and brought our downtown back,” said Grant Houwman, who has had projects participate in the facade easement program and notes that he considers himself more than a property owner.

“I’m a caretaker, and I’m protecting this building for future generations, and I would love to make sure the next building owner has the same care I do.”

Historic preservation advocate and property owner Alex Halbach plans to apply for an easement grant for a building he is restoring at Ninth Street and Grange Avenue and said it would help fund a gap in finishing the project.

He plans to turn part of it into a coffee shop designed to serve the neighborhood.

“A lot of these projects honestly, from an economics perspective, don’t necessarily work,” Halbach said. “You have banks tell you that this is really great if you want to come with 100 percent of the cash to do these projects. They’re important projects for the neighborhood. They’re important projects for Sioux Falls.”

There’s also a ripple effect to improving property, added Councilor Erickson, who owns multiple rental properties in core neighborhoods.

“We did a project on First Avenue, and a few other neighbors started doing this and planting trees and painting fences, and it’s just fun to see the revitalization of the neighborhood,” she said. “I’m excited for this tool.”

What’s next

The goal is to open up applications for facade easements in early 2022 with a mid-March deadline. The city plans to announce awards no later than May 1.

While funding so far has been appropriated for only one year, historically there was funding every year. That will need to be voted on for 2023 later next year.

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