February 18 2011

Ziger/Snead Projects Awarded Half of the State Sustainable Communities Tax Credits

Two of Ziger/Snead's current projects each received $3 million in tax credits from the Maryland Sustainable Communities Tax Credit Program, which this year replaced the former Maryland Heritage Structure Rehabilitation Tax Credit - commonly known as Historic Tax Credits.

10 projects were selected out of 36 applicants to receive over $11 million based on an established set of criteria including goals for sustainability as well as historic rehabilitation standards. 

The Crown Cork & Seal Machine Shop, more recently known as the Lebow Clothing Factory, is being developed by Seawall Development and is currently being considered to house the Baltimore Design School. The beautiful old building has stood vacant since 1985 when the factory was shuttered with everything left in place. More on the history of the building can be read on our blog post: Baltimore's Lebow Clothing Factory: Past, Present and Future.

The Hoen Lithograph Plant is also a vacant, former factory building in East Baltimore. The project involves the green adaptive reuse for office and commercial space of a two story, 85,000 sf, pre-1900 industrial building.  

Maryland Sustainable Communities Tax Credit Program is administered by the Maryland Historical Trust and provides Maryland income tax credits based on a percentage of the qualified capital costs expended in the rehabilitation of a structure for projects that involve certified historic structures with goals for high-performance buildings.

The program is one of the first in the nation to link LEED high-performance green building standards with historic preservation. After all, the most sustainable building is usually one that already exists.

More information can be found in the Governor's press release and on the Maryland Historical Trust website.