How old buildings can bring a city new life

Another daunting project was a former factory located on a railroad siding. It was stripped down to its shell and cleaned up to market the 58,000 square feet of retail and office space. Canopies were added to the loading docks, the brickwork was restored, 3,000 panes of glass were rehabilitated, and an elevator was installed. Tenants include an accounting firm, a spa (which created 13 new jobs and is now expanding), a café, computer store, and several nonprofits. Neighbors of Watertown worked with each to build out the space, including glass-top partition walls for the accounting firm. The $3.8 million project — another $2 million was required to bring it up to turnkey status — was partially funded through micro loans from the local economic development corporation and yielded $650,000 in tax credits.

Beasley said his organization generally removes the interior pre-existing fittings, such as tin ceilings, insulates, puts in duct work (in some cases it’s placed elsewhere than above the ceiling, so as to leave the original windows completely exposed), then reattaches the original fabric. Often hidden historical gems — tilework, the elegant glass surround of a door — are exposed in the renovation process.

The cumulative price tag of Neighbors of Watertown’s projects since 1990 is $31.24 million. Of that amount, tax credit equity amounted to 52 percent, private financing came to 10 percent, public grants and loans equaled 29 percent, and developer investment was 9 percent, said Beasley.

Eminence fronts

Neighbors of Watertown also oversees a façade easement program for the city’s Public Square Historic District. The nonprofit is using state Housing Trust Fund Corp.’s Main Street Program funding to pay for half of the restoration work, up to $10,000 per façade; the local development corporation will pay the remaining half if the owner agrees to the easement. (More funds may also be available through the state Main Street Manager program.) “Our downtown facades are a public asset, so we said, ‘Let’s invest public money and make our historic district more attractive,’” said Beasley. The program also provides half of the cost of interior building renovations, up to $50,000 per building, with loan funds possibly available for the match.