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Lincoln Park residents work to establish historic district downtown

metromode, 11/20/2008

Lincoln Park residents are seeing dollar signs in historic preservation.

The Lincoln Park Preservation Alliance is working to establish a downtown historic district as a way to make the city's core more vibrant and economically viable. That section encompasses northwest side of Fort Street between Southfield Road and Euclid Street and includes the Park Theatre and a neoclassical bank building, formerly National City Bank.

The Michigan State Historic Preservation Office determined earlier this month that it's eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The proposed North Fort Street Historic District is historically significant because of its association with the development of Lincoln Park's commercial life in the 20th century. It's rich with a number of architectural styles exhibited between the 1920s to the 1950s.

Preserving this is a key part of reviving downtown Lincoln Park say some local residents.

"As far as economics go there are certain incentives that would be available for property owners," says Leslie Lynch-Wilson, president of the Lincoln Park Preservation Alliance.

Those incentives include state and federal tax credits for renovating historic buildings. Those credits can take as much as 20 percent of the rehab costs off the project. It would also allow the city's Downtown Development Authority to create a façade-improvement program, which would be similar to ones used in Metro Detroit's most successful downtowns.

The Lincoln Park Preservation Alliance is preparing a nomination for the proposed district to the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office in Lansing. For information on the effort, contact Lynch-Wilson at lalynch@wideopenwest.com or at (313) 598-3137.

Source: Leslie Lynch-Wilson, president of the Lincoln Park Preservation Alliance
Writer: Jon Zemke