Best Mixed Use Rehabilitation – Heritage Ohio Awards
The $7.4 million rehabilitation of the historic Davis-McCrory Building is part 1, of 3 buildings included in a High Street Mercantile Commercial Block in Hamilton. After suffering the same decline as many downtowns, the 1870’s buildings sat vacant for years. With the owner threatening demolition, the City of Hamilton took the bold step of purchasing the buildings in 2003 to ensure their preservation and reuse. After a failed attempt at redevelopment, the City engaged Steve Coon and Historic Developers to pursue the project.
With a nationwide recession and an unproven local market, bank financing was unavailable. With a strong belief in the project and a determined to demonstrate its value and viability, Historic Developers assumed substantial risk to proceed with the first phase of the project without financing. Federal and state historic tax credits were used.