July 23, 2015
Kannapolis Mayor Darrell Hinnant was in Raleigh yesterday appearing before the N.C. House Appropriations Committee to speak about the importance of historic tax credits.
He joined Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughn and Huntersville Mayor Jill Swain who spoke about on transportation and economic development funding for cities. As part of the budget process, the appropriations committee members asked the mayors to brief them formally on these three issues and the importance they play for cities across the state of North Carolina.
Mayor Hinnant spoke to the committee members about the downtown revitalization project the City of Kannapolis has launched. The City is in the process of purchasing approximately 50 acres of property and buildings in the downtown core including the eight blocks of buildings located on Oak Avenue, West Avenue, S. Main Street and West First Street for $8.75 million. The property includes the former Cannon Village, the Gem Theatre, the current Kannapolis City Hall offices, Wells Fargo Bank, the current Kannapolis Police Department, the former Plant 4 site and K-Town Furniture Building. The City is developing a revitalization plan which will focus on finding partners to purchase the properties and redevelop them into a mix of residential apartments, offices, retail stores, restaurants and other compatible uses.
The City has made it a priority to significantly invest in economic development and will spend nearly $1 million of direct, personnel and operating investments to advance economic growth and job creation city-wide and nearly $1.9 million for additionally downtown initiatives in FY 2016.
“We are making a significant investment in our community so we are not looking for a handout from the state we are looking for a partner,” Hinnant told the committee. “By having state historic tax credits we can more quickly facilitate the redevelopment of our downtown. Experts tell us that without historic tax credits it will take 12-18 years instead of 8-10 years to revitalize our downtown.”
“I am not asking just for the City of Kannapolis but for large and small communities in urban and rural counties across our state,” he continued. “We all need the historic tax credits.” The credits allow developers to come in and make an investment in buildings, redevelop them for positive uses and in the process save valuable historic structures.