Historic Development Grant Program

 

In April 2021 the Tennessee General Assembly developed the Historic Development Grant Program (HDGP) and allocated funds to renovate and preserve the State’s historic buildings. The legislators recognized that historic buildings and their preservation expand the state’s economy, create new employment opportunities, revitalize and renew communities, create an environment for investment, and promote tourism and rural economic development.

The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development will begin accepting the letter of intent (LOI) for new HDGP projects on March 8th, 2024, the deadline to complete and submit the Letter of Intent is April 8th, 2024.   If the project outlined in the LOI is deemed eligible by the TN Historical Commission, an application will be sent to the entity.  This process takes approximately one month.  The amount of grant request and required match rate is dependent upon the current tax tier of the county where the project is located. (Tier information located here).

Eligible Properties:

  •  Certified historic structures that are:

-    listed individually in the National Register of Historic Places or are part of a National Register of Historic Places historic district as a contributing structure and certified by the secretary of the United States Department of the Interior as being of historic significance to the district (Additional information on the National Register can be obtained from the Tennessee Historical Commission);  and  are in a tier three (3) or four (4) county as determined by TNECD; or federally qualified opportunity zone (see the TNECD Opportunity Zones directory for a map of opportunity zones in Tennessee); or state and nationally accredited Tennessee Main Street community or Tennessee Downtown community (Information can be found here); or Certified Local Governments (Information can be found here) approved by the National Parks Service in counties with a population of no more than 200,000 personsalso eligible are Courthouses that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and that are located in a distressed or at-risk county in a tier three (3) or four (4) county

  •  The applicant must be the person or entity who holds legal fee or leasehold title to a certified historic structure or an identifiable portion of the certified historic structure.

Any expenditure for a structural component of a building is eligible for grant funds. Treasury Regulation 1.48-1(e)(2) defines structural components to include walls, partitions, floors, ceilings, permanent coverings such as paneling or tiling, windows and doors, components of central air conditioning or heating systems, plumbing and plumbing fixtures, electrical wiring and lighting fixtures, chimneys, stairs, escalators, elevators, sprinkling systems, fire escapes, and other components related to the operation or maintenance of the building.

In addition to the above named "hard costs," there are "soft costs" which also qualify. These include construction period interest and taxes, architect fees, engineering fees, construction management costs, reasonable developer fees, and any other fees paid that would normally be charged to a capital account. More information on soft costs can be found on the Technical Preservation Services website.

For questions about the program, please reach out to: Kim Parks, TN Main Street Program Director kim.parks@tn.gov, 615-339-1506

Awards are anticipated to be announced in May 2024.  Projects activities cannot begin until the grant contract is executed and must be complete within thirty-six (36) months. Only expenses incurred during the contract period will be eligible for reimbursement.

The letter of intent (LOI) will be available March 8, 2024 and is due April 8, 2024.  LOIs will be reviewed for eligibility prior to the application availability.  The letter of intent is required to proceed to the application. The 2023 Historic Development Grant Program (HDGP) webinar recording and presentations slides can be found here:

Letter of Intent (LOI) Information 

Historic Tax Credit (HTC) Information
How to Pursue the Historic Tax Credit (Presentation Slides)

Historic Development Grant Program & Historic Tax Credit Case Study 

HDGP and HTC Case Study (Presentation Slides)

For questions about the program, please reach out to: Kim Parks, TN Main Street Program Director, kim.parks@tn.gov, 615-339-1506

Letter Of Intent Form

Letter of Intent (LOI) - Please click the link above for the 2024 Letter of Intent. The deadline to submit is April 8, 2024. This is a requirement to proceed to the application. 

Application- The application will be sent to eligible projects after a review of the LOI.

 

Checklist for Letter of Intent

-               National Register Property Information (Name of Building/Name of Historic District) 

-             Tennessee Historical Commission Viewer

-               Grant Request Amount 

-               Total Budget 

-               Basic Information about the intended end use of the building. 

-               Color Photos 10-15 of all exterior elevations and primary interior spaces. Photographs must be keyed to a basic site plan/floor plan. All in one document.

-               NPS Part I 

-              Map showing the location of the building within the district  

Checklist for Application 

-               Building Description/Statement of Significance:  This information can be found on the National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. 

-               Photographs- All in one document. 

-               Photo Key

-               Map- This can be pulled from https://assessment.cot.tn.gov/TPAD/

-               NPS Part I Form 

-               Plans for Building 

-               Description of Plans 

-               NPS Part 2 Form 

-               Project Budget 

-               Financing Documents 

-               Letters of Support or Documents to show how this project achieves a vision for your community plan. 

All projects must meet the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation. The Standards and guidance can be found at the links below:  

 

Please see the file document below for the current list of frequently asked questions (FAQs).

Historic Development Grant Program (HDGP) FAQs

 

 

Additional ResourcesHistoric Tax Credit (HTC) Instructions & Forms 

·   Hpca-instructions-2019.pdf 

·   Hpca-part1-2019.pdf 

·   Hpca-part2-2019.pdf 

·   Hpca-part3-2019.pdf 

·   Photo Key Instructions.pdf

·   Photo Key Example.pdf

Budget Template for Application 

·   Budget Template Attachment

Monthly Grant Reporting - Due by the 25th of each month

Closeout & Reimbursement 

To close out your HDGP grant and receive your reimbursement, TNECD will need the following completed:

  • Monitoring Visit Completion - Please reach out to Alaire.Brown@tn.gov to schedule the visit
  • Completed Closeout Report - Found Here. Be sure to change the “This is an:”  field to  “Closeout Report”
  • An approval email from the TN Historic Commission approving the NPS Part 3 Form- A copy of the NPS Part 3 Form can be submitted to justin.heskew@tn.gov at the TN Historic Commission for review and approval
  • Certificate of Occupancy
  • Completed Reimbursement Request Submission - Once you have received an Invoice Template, please follow the instructions found here for compiling the backup documentation and submitting the documentation to TNECD.
  • Historic Development Grant Program (HDGP) - Grantee Compliance Webinar-20230130_090204-Meeting Recording.mp4