(Posted 5-21-99)
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
HISTORIC DESIGNATION MAKES DIFFERENCE
IN PROPERTY VALUES, UNCG STUDY FINDS
By Brian Long
Jo Leimenstoll
|
GREENSBORO -- Property values in neighborhoods that obtain
designation as local historic districts rise faster than those in
similar neighborhoods without such designation, a study by a
preservation architect at The University of North Carolina at
Greensboro found.
In one comparison, homes in the historic neighborhood were
valued at nearly $62,000 more than homes in a similar, non-designated
neighborhood, Jo Leimenstoll found in a study published by the
National Register of Historic Places.
Though Leimenstoll studied neighborhoods in Greensboro, she
said the research methods could be used to study historic districts in
other North Carolina cities.
Local historic designation means that property owners must
have any proposed changes to their property approved by a historic
commission. Changes must be in keeping with the architecture and
character of the neighborhood.
"Historic designation helps protect the neighborhood as a
whole from changes that would damage the character, that would
possibly lower the economic values in the neighborhood," said
Leimenstoll, an associate professor in the UNCG Department of Housing
and Interior Design. "It is one tool for residents of a neighborhood,
who like their neighborhood, to use ... to help control what happens
beyond the boundaries of their own yard."
Leimenstoll studied assessed tax values of homes in three
Greensboro neighborhoods: Aycock, Fisher Park and College Hill. All
three have been designated as local historic districts. She compared
them with city neighborhoods that are similar in architecture and
character but do not have historic designation. She looked at tax
values dating back to 1972, before any of the neighborhoods had been
named historic districts. She also looked at tax values in 1980, 1988
and 1996 to gauge the effects of historic designation.
She found that historic designation helped the neighborhoods
to stave off decline. The average property value in College Hill is
$110,089, compared with just $48,153 for its counterpart, Glenwood.
(In 1972, College Hill property values were only $7,600 higher than
those of Glenwood.) Fisher Park property values average $156,707,
while values in its comparison neighborhood, Sunset Hills, average
$143,088.
Only the Aycock neighborhood failed to match or exceed its
non-designated counterpart in property value. Although Aycock property
values continue to be $8,000 less than those in the Westerwood
neighborhood, which does not have historic designation, Aycock's rate
of increase in property value is nearly 5 percent higher than
Westerwood's, the study showed.
The historic designation was a clear factor in the Aycock
neighborhood's reversal of decline, Leimenstoll said.
But she stopped short of calling historic designation a simple
solution to decline in the state's older neighborhoods. She said there
are other factors, such as the timing of the designation and the
commitment of the residents to revitalizing the neighborhood.
"It would be hard to say that this factor alone has made the
difference," Leimenstoll said. "But usually the whole process of
becoming a local district means that the neighborhood has gotten
together, created a strong neighborhood association. It usually means
that they start being proactive with the local government, like they
might be lobbying city council. For example, in Fisher Park, they had
a lot of street improvements made."
Despite the increase in property values, Leimenstoll said
historic designation has not made neighborhoods unaffordable. Some
revitalized neighborhoods that have become popular -- such as
Raleigh's Oakwood and Charlotte's Fourth Ward -- have become quite
expensive. But in most of the other neighborhoods around the state,
historic designation has been a protector and stabilizer, she said.
"It hasn't made houses unaffordable, but it's certainly made
the values go up," Leimenstoll said. "You can't pick up a house in
College Hill for what you could 20 years ago."
Leimenstoll undertook the study because past research has
looked mainly at the effects of historic districts in large urban
cities such as Boston, Washington and Philadelphia. North Carolina
cities are different, she said. "We don't have the dramatic
gentrification or the huge deteriorated sections of downtown like they
would have."
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