Heritage Ohio Unveils Ohio’s Top Preservation Opportunities List 2008

Contact:
Joyce Barrett
Executive Director
Heritage Ohio
614-258-6200

COLUMBUS, OHIO -- Heritage Ohio announced its Top Preservation Opportunities List for 2008. The preservation & revitalization organization chose ten buildings located throughout the state. The ten brick & mortar opportunities represent a variety of building types and a variety of opportunities to investors and communities alike.

Heritage Ohio’s Top Preservation Opportunities List, in its second year, has partnered with the Durable Restoration Company, to provide the technical support communities may need in: prioritizing rehabilitation work; finding appropriate adaptive reuse options; or understanding how their historic assets contribute to the economic vitality of each individual community. Representatives from Heritage Ohio and Durable Restoration will visit each site to meet with the building owners or community members, provide a basic building assessment, and suggest reuse options. The site visits will help building stakeholders to create or hone their strategy for the building’s end use once rehabilitation is completed.

Top Preservation Opportunities show the public that what may appear as a vacant building today, may be tomorrow’s hot spot: offering a location that may provide loft housing, the latest restaurant or retail establishment or a new center of commerce.  Communities should look at their historic assets as “OPPORTUNITIES”; buildings that are under-utilized or await redevelopment can create destinations as opposed to the generic America of contemporary strip centers, shopping malls, and office parks.

The criterion for selection takes into account the historic significance; the potential impact for the community; and the readiness and availability of community support.

The Top Ten Ohio Preservation Opportunities List includes: Elk’s Lodge—Wapakoneta; Fife & Bosworth commercial building—Wilmington; Bethany Hall—Lebanon; Fairborn Performing Arts Theater—Fairborn; Marsh Hotel—Van Wert; Longwood Manor—Macedonia; Eli Kinney House—Portsmouth; Keller Building—Sandusky; Town Hall—Edgerton; and the Seneca County Courthouse—Tiffin. Information about Ohio’s Top Preservation Opportunities will be available on Heritage Ohio’s Web site at www.heritageohio.org and Durable Restoration’s web site at www.DurableRestoration.com

Heritage Ohio is the state partner to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, providing historic preservation support to Ohioans as well as coordinating the Ohio Main Street Program.

Photos available upon request

###