ADVISORY COUNCIL ON HISTORIC PRESERVATION RELEASES REPORT
ON MEASURING PRESERVATION’S ECONOMIC IMPACTS
Publication identifies relationships between preservation and economics, recommends future metrics

(WASHINGTON, DC) – The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation released a new report that establishes historic preservation’s substantial contributions to economic activity and recommends a course of action for better understanding those contributions. The report proposes new approaches to five economic measures of preservation: jobs and household income, property values, heritage tourism, environmental measurements, and downtown revitalization. It was completed in a partnership between PlaceEconomics and the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate Program in Historic Preservation.

The report asserts preservation’s importance and diverse roles:

Historic preservation has become a fundamental tool for strengthening American communities. It has proven to be an effective tool for a wide range of public goals including small business incubation, affordable housing, sustainable development, neighborhood stabilization, center city revitalization, job creation, promotion of the arts and culture, small town renewal, heritage tourism, economic development, and others. It was to better understand the economic roles and impact of historic preservation that this study was commissioned.

Researchers undertook an extensive literature review and conducted interviews with 28 experts. An international symposium focused on preservation economics convened leading thinkers, scholars, and professional practitioners. The resulting report provides detailed analysis of existing methods used to gauge preservation’s economic impact and proposes new methodologies to capture the full range of economic benefits.

A summary report highlighting useful statistics on jobs, property values, heritage tourism, and other fields is available here. The full report can be downloaded here.

In the News

Economic Development Expert Calls Demolishing Bryant School “Ludicrous”
(May 9, 2012)
“Donovan Rypkema, who advocates for reusing historic spaces, said leveling the existing Bryant [School, built in 1889] doesn’t make sense. He called for upgrading the existing space. ‘It is the height of fiscal irresponsibility to tear down the school and put it in a park two blocks away and put a pocket park in its place,’ he said.”
Sioux City Journal

Preserving Historic Buildings Has Handsome Payoff
(May 4, 2012)
“Few people ever regret saving a historic building. A preserved and reused structure maintains a tangible tie with local history, retains the aesthetic quality of an area and contributes to our connection with the community, our sense of place. In addition, it turns out, historic preservation makes good economic sense. That was the conclusion of two studies by real estate and economic development consultant Donovan Rypkema, a leading expert in the economics of historic preservation.”
Hartford Courant

Where We Live: Historic Preservation
(February 27, 2012)
Donovan Rypkema was featured on WPNR/Connecticut Public Broadcasting’s Where We Live in a segment about property values and historic places. Listen on the Speeches page.

What Will Happen with Hamburg’s Balthaser Building?
(February 17, 2012)
“What will happen with the Balthaser building located on the corner of Third and Pine Streets in Hamburg? …Possibilities for the structure are under evaluation by a group of 21 individuals partaking in a feasibility assessment. The study is led by Donovan Rypkema, principal of PlaceEconomics… ‘In the end, [buildings are] real estate,’ said Rypkema. ‘The preservationists can love them, but in the end they’re a piece of real estate and we [have] to deal with them in the language and the approaches of real estate.’”
Hamburg Area Item

Athens Rising: What’s Up in New Development
(February 15, 2012)
“The Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation held a one-day symposium with around 150 attendees Feb. 4, using the historic Southern Mills as a focal point around which to frame a broader conversation about how historic preservation and notions of sustainability intersect… The first speaker, Donovan Rypkema of Washington, D.C.-based Place Economics, started off the presentations with a powerful set of criteria for what should constitute sustainable economic development. These criteria, backed by his firm’s work and research, laid out a model for economic development driven by local assets and identity, long-term thinking and a commitment to small local businesses… Rypkema also noted that since the recession began, large corporations have continued to shed jobs, and the recovery in employment has been due almost exclusively to hiring by small businesses.”
Flagpole Magazine

Athens Clarke Heritage Foundation Holds Southern Mills Symposium
(February 6, 2012)
“For $2 million, the Southern Manufacturing property can be yours… You’ll be buying an opportunity to renovate and remodel historic structures into something that can provide an environmental, economic and cultural benefit. Because that’s what historic preservation, done right, provides to a community. So said Donovan Rypkema, principal of Place Economics in Washington, D.C., and one of the speakers at Saturday’s symposium on the Southern Mills… Rypkema made a convincing case for why renovating an older, existing building is better than tearing it down and building a new one. For starters, demolition wastes energy, generates pollution, contributes to climate change and fills landfills unnecessarily. Renovation and reuse creates ‘measurable benefits,’ adding 18 jobs for every $1 million of investment. It increases the quality of life in a community — which is one of the biggest draws for ‘knowledge workers,’ people who usually work from home and who can live anywhere.”
AthensPatch