A few weeks ago the Grande Ballroom on Grand River Avenue was given one of the highest distinctions a building can have bestowed upon it, having been added to the National Register of Historic Places. Popular Detroit locations on the NRHP include the Fisher Building, Belle Isle, the Corktown Historic District, the Eastern Market Historic District, and over a hundred other churches, apartments, hotels, districts, and miscellaneous buildings.

Whereas making the list is an honor, the biggest gift from this move comes in the form of tax credits. When it comes to structural work, any ‘certified rehabilitation of a certified historic structure’ is allotted a 20% tax break on money spent to secure the structure of the building, district, or object. Meaning that if you spend $1 million to fix structural items like roofing, walls, foundation, etc., you would receive $200K back from the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Department of the Treasury.

Unfortunately in Michigan, the largest local preservation tax credit was removed in 2011. This tax credit was similar to the one presented by the National Parks Service, but offered a hand to both large projects and smaller projects not listed on the NRHP as well. There is currently talk of reactivating this historic tax credit in Michigan, allowing for local historic buildings to receive up to a 25% tax credit for their work, and buildings that are on the NRHP up to 5% in addition to the 20% they already receive on a federal level. Although this bill died in the House as a lame-duck effort from those about to leave office, it is hoped that Gretchen Whitmer’s support of the tax credit will bode well for preservationists in 2019.

Being added to the National Register of Historic Places is a huge honor, but it far from saves a building from the recking ball. Just down the street from the Grande Ballroom stood the Grand Riviera Theatre, added to the NRHP in 1982 and designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1980, but was demolished in 1996. The Alexander Chene House, St. Boniface Roman Catholic Church, St. Thomas the Apostle’s Church, Tiger Stadium, among a dozen or so other Detroit properties were all designated to the NRHP but subsequently demolished.