Preservation and housing advocates are applauding changes to Maine's historic rehabilitation tax credit, which state lawmakers approved and funded earlier this summer.
The tax credits have helped builders transform old mills and other historic spaces into new housing, retail and office space throughout Maine.
But the program capped the amount of historic tax credits that developers can claim to $5 million each year. Restoration projects, however, are often approved for much more, and so some developers have been forced to intentionally slow down projects over many years.
Now, developers will be able to take up to $10 million in state historic credits within each of the first two years of a project. Tara Kelly, executive director of the nonprofit Maine Preservation, said this is the first time that caps on state historic tax credits will be increased since the program was created in 2008.
"Housing or that other use for that historic building will come online much more quickly," she said.
More than 40% of the projects financed with Maine historic tax credits have built housing, according to a 2021 report from the Legislature's independent government accountability office.
Lewiston added more than 72 income-restricted apartments earlier this year with the completion of Picker House Lofts inside a portion of the former Continental Mill earlier this year. The project used state historic tax credits. Developers are also trying to revitalize the rest of the mill and have plans for nearly 400 more units.
Kelly said another new law approved by the Legislature this year increases the amount of historic tax credits available to developers if they build affordable housing in rural parts of Maine.
