McCrory plans to restore historic tax credit

Kimberly Thigpen opened her soap and fragrance shop in 2012 on a refurbished block of downtown Rocky Mount, an area brought back to life, in part, with the help of historic preservation tax credits.

"I would say it was 85 percent of my decision to open up here rather than somewhere else," she said. "For my business, it is all about the history and the character of the building."

But the economic boost that helped Thigpen and other Rocky Mount businesses is now history. 

"We have a crisis in Raleigh, the state historical tax credit has expired and we need to get them back," said Secretary of Cultural Resources Susan Kluttz.

McCrory and Kluttz agree there is a need to bring back the tax credit as part of the state's economic recovery.

"(The) historical tax credit is a crucial part that we have to keep in North Carolina," McCrory said.

Rep. David Lewis, R-Harnett, said he has been instructed to develop language that would create a modified tax credit.

"If we could predict what the maximum credit that could be claimed, it would give the people willing to redevelop the old facilities an incentive to do it," he said.

McCrory said his budget includes funding for historical tax credits.

Capitol Broadcasting Co., the parent company of WRAL, used the tax credit to transform an abandoned cigarette manufacturing complex into Durham's American Tobacco Complex.

The historic preservation tax credit has been used in 90 of North Carolina's 100 counties and has generated $1.6 billion of private investment since 1998, officials said.