The League Brings Tax Credit Expertise to Schenectady

​Since the League’s successful effort to create a Rehabilitation Tax Credit Program for New York State in 2006, our staff has spent countless hours reaching out to tax credit-eligible property owners to let them know about this important economic development tool. Much of this outreach is done through community workshops around the state in partnership with staff from the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and involving regional experts in historic preservation.

On June 20, Congressman Paul Tonko hosted just such a workshop in Schenectady at the Schenectady Armory. This was the fourth tax credit workshop for the League in 2016 with earlier workshops in Ithaca, Elmira, and Buffalo. The Armory itself provided a perfect setting for the meeting. Built in 1936 by state architect William Haugaard in the Art Deco style, the Armory is nestled in Schenectady’s downtown just steps from the Schenectady Stockade Historic District, New York State’s first local historic district established in 1962. Schenectady has three large historic districts that qualify for the NYS Rehabilitation Tax Credit, the Stockade Historic District, the General Electric Realty Plot Historic District, and the Union Street Historic District.

This is Tonko’s second tax credit workshop with the League, with the first taking place in Amsterdam (Montgomery Co.) in the fall of last year. Speakers for the meeting included Erin Tobin (Director of Preservation for the Preservation League), Julian Adams (Director, Community Preservation Services Bureau & Tax Credit Unit, OPRHP), and Jason Yots (Principal & CEO, Preservation Studios and Partner, Borrelli & Yots). Over 30 historic property owners, municipal staff, land bank officials, and real estate developers attended the program.