$2M tax credit will help preserve historic Baker Brother’s building in downtown Zanesville

ZANESVILLE − A downtown project is one of 35 across the state awarded a tax credit from the Ohio Department of Development earlier this month as part of the Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit Program to preserve historic buildings and turn them into reusable space within their communities.

Justin Wagner of Eight Main LLC received a $2 million tax credit to preserve the historic Baker Brother’s Wholesale Grocery warehouse and building at 8 and 12 Main St. and turn it into a mixed-use complex.

“We were an awesome juggernaut of a city 100 years ago and it’s dwindled over the last 50 years,” said Wagner, a Rosecrans High School graduate whose family line through his great-grandparents are Zanesville residents. “My big vision is to bring it back. If Zanesville gets it right, we can be a premier community that attracts these out-of-towners (from the Intel plant) by having places like this project. It’ll showcase our downtown and maybe spur more investment. We want to do our part to make Zanesville great again.”

In total, $68,546,752 in tax credits went to support the preservation of 43 buildings in Akron, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Cleveland Heights, Columbus, Dayton, Hamilton, Newark, Toledo, Warren, Youngstown, and Zanesville. The projects are expected to leverage approximately $691 million in private investments, according to the press release.

“The goal of the credits is to provide adaptive reuse of historic properties while maintaining the historic integrity of the building,” said Zanesville’s Community Development Director Matt Schley. “They must keep certain aspects of the building to maintain that historic distinction and incorporate them into the space. That’s a condition of getting those credits.”

According to a news release from the ODD, the Baker Brother’s warehouse will repair and retain tin ceilings, the original, wood-framed storefront, the original freight elevator, the suspended catwalk, and the metal fire elevator door.

“This is a cool project,” said Schley. “We want these projects downtown because it helps rebuild the city core.”

Located in the western gateway to downtown Zanesville and overlooking the Muskingum River and historic Y bridge, Baker Brother’s Warehouse will become a mixed-use complex with office, commercial, and residential space. Constructed in 1894, 12 Main St. was used for the Baker Brothers Grocery and will serve as residential apartments with a ground floor lobby and residential amenity space, according to the release. The circa-1913, four-story 8 Main building and its 1978 wing addition were also utilized by the Baker Brothers. Rehabilitation efforts will develop the first and second floors as commercial and office space, with the upper floors developed into market-rate apartments, the release said.

“It will have 12,000 square feet of office space and 38 units of short-term housing,” said Wagner of the combined uses of both the Eight Main St. and 12 Main St. buildings. “We’ll also have one office tenant.”

He said the $9.4M budget will have $4.5M in tax credits and the remaining budget will be covered his company’s equity, bank financing, and potential investor equity.

“Phase Two drawings are being finalized,” said Wagner. “We’re on pace to break ground in December of 2024. That’s the pie in the sky.”

He said it will be about eight months of construction with everything up and running by November 2025.

“Development spurs development,” said Schley. “By encouraging people to build and actually create density in our downtown we will uplift the economic prospects for everybody. A rising tide lifts all boats.”

Schley said for its part, the city will ensure the Baker Brother’s project meets historic district aesthetic requirements.

“We have design standards for all of downtown as well as our three historic districts,” said Schley. “What are you doing from an exterior standpoint and those types of changes have to be approved. Things like paint color, roof, things like that. Outside of that, we would treat this just like a standard commercial development.”

Schley’s role is to help make the project happen, which includes certain tax exemptions to spur development and is available to any business who asks for it.

“It all depends on what they need to do,” said Schley. “We’ve had some preliminary conversations with Eight Main but nothing has been set in stone. We did do a CRA exemption (in October), but the state changed some rules (in March) and we have to go back through again.”

Schley said the current influx of state money and tax credits into Muskingum County shows how well the local economy has been performing.

“A few years ago, we were an at-risk county (as ranked by the Appalachian Reginal Commission),” said Schley. “We just found out we have moved out of that category into a transitional county. The economic prospects of our county and community as a whole has increased to a point where we’re not at-risk any longer. We’re transitional.”

Schley said that points to only good things for the economic future of the county.

“I’m an optimist,” said Schley. “We’re moving on up in the world.”

This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: $2M tax credit will help preserve historic Baker Brother’s building in downtown Zanesville