City’s survey of historic buildings expands

From today's Examiner, "Costly and contentious preservation battles have only increased during The City’s development boom. One way to head off those fights is to identify historic buildings and neighborhoods upfront before preservationists and developers come to loggerheads. And that’s exactly what city officials hope to do."

"Preservationists are optimistic that the initial funding will be supplemented by the Historic Preservation Fund Committee. Recently formed, the committee will dole out $2.5 million from a legal settlement with developers of a shopping complex at Fifth and Market streets who demolished part of the 1896 Emporium department store building they had promised to preserve."

"Dennis Antenore, a member of the Historic Preservation Fund Committee, said conflicts such as the one over the Harding Theater, which developers wanted to raze and turn into condos before neighborhood activists stepped in, might be avoided in the future."

“For developers, neighborhoods and preservationists, identifying what might be worth preserving in advance solves a lot of problems,” he said. “Last-minute fights cost a lot of money and a lot of grief.”