Crowninshield Award

Donovan Rypkema was recently awarded the Louise du Pont Crowninshield Award, the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s highest honor. Watch the awards video and read his special lecture below.

Crowninshield Lecture by Donovan Rypkema, 2012 [PDF]

Getting Results: New Report on Iowa Main Street

RESEARCH MEASURES ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF MAIN STREET

A new report finds that Main Street Iowa effectively creates jobs, supports local business growth, encourages reinvestment in historic buildings, and generates property and sales taxes that see up to a 50-fold return on Main Street program dollars. The report examines the impacts of the Main Street Iowa program on rural to urban economies throughout the state from 1986 to 2012, utilizing extensive data from diverse sources. Quantitative analysis is supplemented by six case studies that provide a qualitative look at Main Street programs and how they benefit local communities.

The report was prepared by PlaceEconomics for Main Street Iowa and the Iowa Economic Development Authority. Read it here [PDF].

In the News

Muncie Has Chance to ‘Right-Size’
(February 11, 2013)
“Donovan Rypkema spent the past week conducting research in Muncie that could help the city downsize, although that’s not the term he uses. The Washington, D.C., real estate/economic development/historic preservation consultant and others call it ‘right-sizing,’ also known as planned shrinkage and often associated with demolition. It’s an approach being taken by other cash-strapped municipalities in the Rust Belt to manage the contraction of former industrial cities, as evidenced by population loss, closed factories and scores of abandoned houses and vacant lots. ‘There are more challenges than there is money in all of these right-sizing cities,’ Rypkema said. ‘It’s not that nothing should be torn down, but there ought to be some systematic framework to it. In most places, the decisions are made on an ad hoc basis.’”
Muncie Star Press

New Study Says It Pays To Restore Iowa’s Main Streets
(January 31, 2013)
“Don Rypkema has been spreading some good news for Iowa that runs counter to conventional wisdom. The Washington, D.C.-based consultant with PlaceEconomics arrived in Des Moines this week to explain the results of his new study of 26 years’ worth of meticulous data that spans the history of the Main Street Iowa program… The bottom line of Rypkema’s study: Main Street Iowa has been a bargain and boon for taxpayers, leveraging an influx of money and jobs into these communities… Main Street already has touted a cumulative 11,000 net new jobs created so far and 3,800 net new businesses, plus nearly $1.2 billion private investment in Main Street buildings.”
Des Moines Register

Main Street Iowa Impact Symposium
(January 2013)
“Donovan Rypkema, the principal of Place Economics, will present his findings from a recent study on the economic impacts of the Main Street Iowa program. Rypkema’s study has taken an in-depth analysis of over 26 years of quantitative data and researched qualitative impacts that showcase local compelling success stories that go beyond the numbers… ‘A study of this depth has not been undertaken in Iowa to help us understand the true impacts of the Main Street Iowa program and preservation-based economic development,’ said Debi Durham, Director of the Iowa Economic Development Authority. ‘Increasing the awareness of the economic benefits of historic commercial district revitalization will help all Iowa historic commercial districts to better make the case for their revitalization efforts.’”
Iowa Economic Development Authority

Study To Analyze Economic Impacts of Historic Preservation
(December 3, 2012)
“Soon, Utahns may get new insights into the costs and benefits of historic preservation. A study commissioned by the nonprofit Utah Heritage Foundation will analyze various aspects of the economy taking preservation into account… The analysis will look at such things as the economic impact of commercial building renovations versus demolition and rebuilding, said Donovan Rypkema, who will lead the project for PlaceEconomics. ‘When quality is part of the equation, historic preservation will always be competitive,’ Rypkema said.”
The Salt Lake Tribune

Tea Party and Sierra Club Should Love Historic Tax Credits
(October 19, 2012)
“Under the stimulus, project activity jobs cost $445,000 each. [The] historic rehabilitation tax credit program costs taxpayers $9,000 per job. This is likely to be cut next year. The historic tax credit program has cost taxpayers $16 billion since it began 30 years ago, but it’s brought in $22 billion to the U.S. Treasury. Says Rypkema, ‘I don’t know why the hell the Tea Party and the Sierra Club aren’t holding hands at the front of the preservation parade.’ But they’re not. And this one of the few people in the country who’s saying they should.”
Michigan Now

400 in Norfolk for Conference on Historic Preservation
(July 21, 2012)
“Historic preservation is good for the economy. Now, if only historic preservationists could convince decision-makers of that… Economist Donovan Rypkema, who is the principal of a Washington-based real estate and economic development consulting firm called PlaceEconomics, [spoke] at the National Alliance of Preservation Commissions’ conference in Norfolk this week. More than 400 historic preservation professionals are in town. Rypkema is trying to offer the solution to this preservationist’s quandary: airtight conclusions arrived at through an academic’s strict, objective methodology. That is what he has been doing through his research, with his most recent study, ‘Measuring the Economics of Preservation,’ released last year.”
The Virginian Pilot

In Shrinking Cities, Preserving Existing Buildings Can Stem The Loss
(July 20, 2012)
“The concept of historic preservation has finally penetrated the national conversation over so-called ‘shrinking cities.’ Sort of. At last month’s Reclaiming Vacant Properties” conference in New Orleans, sponsored by the Center for Community Progress, a few stellar examples of conserving abandoned but quality structures were presented… Don Rypkema and Cara Bertron of Place Economics have been studying this issue, traveling the country and talking to local officials and residents. Their findings are in a report, ‘Historic Preservation and Rightsizing,’ commissioned by the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.”
Citiwire

Interview with Donovan Rypkema
(July 3, 2012)
Interview in advance of Rypkema’s keynote speech at Culture Matters 2012, 14-16 November 2012. He will be speaking on ‘The economic contributions of heritage: recent lessons from around the world.’
Shaping Norwich | Ghent

Hanging on to Our Historic Charm
(June 26, 2012)
“A lot of cities across the country did almost the exact same thing [as Niagara Falls in urban renewal], but most of them had the foresight to hang on to the best of their past, selectively and carefully removing the worst while at the same time, preserving and recycling, or re-purposing the best and, or building around, or incorporating as much as they could into new development using design standards that reflected and respecting their heritage… So here we go again, faced with what looks to some like more either/or decisions about our city… One such group who have examined the issues in much more detail that I ever could, Donovan Rypkema, did the hard work in China and published work in a paper: Culture, Historic Preservation and Economic Development in the 21st Century (September 1999).”
Niagara Gazette

Occupancy Drives Revival
(June 16, 2012)
“Many communities are dealing with a shrinking population, a growing number of empty or abandoned houses and business buildings and a limited cash flow among residents, organizations and government… What Rypkema found [in a recent study] was the population declined less, foreclosure rates were lower and property values remained higher in historic neighborhoods than in any other part of a city. Those historic neighborhoods usually had a mixture of business and residential use, diversity of ethnic and economic residents and walkability.”
Palladium-Item

Strategies for Survival
(June 14, 2012)
“Thursday’s ‘Rightsizing Communities through Historic Preservation’ conference in Richmond offered information about projects that are making a difference in communities dealing with a shrinking population, a growing number of unoccupied home and business buildings and the stagnant economy… Donovan Rypkema, principal of PlaceEconomics in Washington, D.C., was the keynote speaker. In a recent study, Rypkema focused on the challenges faced by cities with shrinking populations and how historic preservation has to be part of the plans to rejuvenate those communities and rebuild their economies.”
Palladium-Item

Consultant tells Milwaukee to Marry Preservation and Development
(June 12, 2012)
“Donovan Rypkema, a consultant from Washington, D.C., visited Milwaukee Monday to spread a message that, rather than being in conflict, historic preservation and development are almost inseparable… Rypkema said Milwaukee’s building stock can draw tourists and emphasize Milwaukee’s uniqueness as city officials try to draw business, development and more residents. ‘Differentiation,’ he said, is central to development, and historic buildings contribute to making cities and neighborhoods stand out.”
The Business Journal

Right-Sizing
(June 9, 2012)
“A new report called ‘Historic Preservation and Right Sizing’ from Donovan Rypkema’s internationally renowned consulting firm, Place Economics. Utica is one of the cities analyzed in this nationwide report… It offers best practices on rightsizing older industrial cities, i.e. ‘how do we reshape the physical urban fabric to meet the needs of current and anticipated populations.’”
Utica Observer-Dispatch

Read more at In the News.