Every community has one: the old, creepy, abandoned building. Maybe it's a big mansion at the end of a dead-end road. Maybe it's the old schoolhouse, with windows busted out and vines creeping up the crumbling brick walls. The real scary thing it isn't their creaking floors or the wind whistling through the holes in the walls. It's that these buildings, once staples of lively communities often lie in decay, waiting...until they're demolished. With them, their unique architectural features and years of town memories, wiped away with a single wrecking ball.
But these old buildings don't have to be scary, or come to a chilling end. Through historic rehabilitation, these architectural gems with their antique and aged features can be preserved and brought to new life. OHFA properties like Nelsonville Commons and Lima Trust Building are historic preservation projects, once abandoned and decaying, now provide affordable housing for individuals and families, bring new life to the buildings and are staples of their communities once again.
In our special Halloween episode of the Doorsteps podcast, OHFA's Samantha Makoski and Dr. Cody Price are joined by Joe McCabe of Woda Cooper Companies. Joe shares some of the real treats and some nasty tricks of historical rehabilitation as well as some sweet federal and state tax incentives that can make rehabilitation costs a little less scary.
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The views and opinions expressed in Doorsteps are those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily reflect those of the Ohio Housing Finance Agency.
