RHA eyes tax credit to restore mansions - Rockford Housing Authority

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

By Brian Leaf Rockford Register Star Posted May. 6, 2014 @ 11:02 am Updated May 6, 2014 at 1:48 PM

ROCKFORD — Two historic homes near the Jane Addams Park Apartments may get a $1 million face-lift that would return them to their 19th century residential glory.

One idea being floated is to use the buildings for Rockford Housing Authority offices.

Bridge Rockford Alliance Inc., a partnership between the RHA and Wisconsin developer Gorman & Co., owns both properties and would use historic tax credits to help finance restoration of the properties at 510 and 520 S. Third St.

If the property is deemed eligible for historic tax credits, the partners could raise 40 percent or more of renovation costs by selling the credits to investors that want to lower their income tax exposure.

Gorman is planning to use state and federal historic tax credits to help finance redevelopment of the Amerock/Ziock building in downtown Rockford into a $52 million, 150-room hotel and convention center.

Gorman and RHA partnered on the Jane Addams Park Apartments, a 38-unit development for people with disabilities that opened in 2013. The apartments replaced an old and blighted 84-unit complex along College Avenue and Seminary Street south of downtown.

“Ultimately, the end goal on this is to make sure those houses get renovated in a historic manner that benefits the neighborhood,” said Ron Clewer, CEO of the housing authority.

Clewer said the partners bought both properties for about $60,000 from Home State Bank foreclosure proceedings.

Partners are still discussing how the restored properties might be used. One idea is to restore the homes as residences, but use them for RHA offices for 10 to 15 years. Then, after satisfying requirements of historic state and federal tax credit programs, the homes could be sold to private owners.

The renovations could be a pioneering project that Clewer said could stimulate other residential restorations and increase property values in what was once one of the city’s most affluent neighborhoods.

Clewer said RHA would have to get a special-use permit to put offices there. It could take nine months to get paperwork approved with city, state and federal governments.

The home at 510 S. Third St. was built in the 1850s by Gilbert Woodruff, a banker, developer, furniture company owner and mayor of Rockford from 1873-75. Jon Paul Agustsson, who owned the house, said the mansion was cut into four apartments when he bought it. He restored it to a single-family home and ran the Eden Foundation from it. His plan was to restore the house and property to its original grandeur, while providing a safe haven for neighborhood residents who work in gardens on the property.