Granting Preservation and Development

By Lee Egerstrom, Economic Development Fellow, February 21, 2012 at 2:00 pm

A Connecticut foundation has made a $15,000 grant to Preservation Alliance of Minnesota (PAM) for the St. Paul-based group to study how a revolving fund might help communities preserve historic properties and spur economic activity.

The money is coming from the 1772 Foundation which supports preservation programs nationwide and the preservation of properties in New Jersey, Connecticut and Rhode Island. The grant to PAM allows the Minnesota group to study how a revolving fund would help efforts to identify historic properties and the issues or barriers to their reuse. The grant will also help identify how a revolving fund and PAM could help the process.

All one needs to do is look at scenic St. Croix and Mississippi River towns and the visitors and shoppers they attract, says Will O’Keefe, PAM’s communication and program director.

Data assembled for PAM’s Minnesota Main Street Program in 2011 found a three-to-one relationship between private and public investment for improvements and business development in historic buildings, O’Keefe said. In five participating cities in the program, 61 full-time jobs were created, 24 new businesses were started, 47 rehab improvements were undertaken, and three public improvements were started.

In the first seven months of the Minnesota Main Street Program, PAM found that preservation improvements returned $9.20 to the state for every $1 invested, and that 14 projects underway are projected to create nearly 3,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs.

A private foundation grant that might improve on PAM’s preservation record will pay dividends to the state, our communities and our individual quality of life.   

Posted in Economic Development | Related Topics: Business Growth  Small Business  Minnesota Cities