WHAT WE
DO IN SRQ
We work collaboratively with residents, community organizations, elected officials, and other preservation organizations to help preserve and protect Sarasota County's historic resources.
The Benefits of Preservation
WHY IT MATTERS
Historic preservation plays a critical role in the solutions to many of the challenges our communities face. From sustaining cultural diversity, heritage tourism, and creative industries, to preserving the built environment for future generations, research shows that preservation is integral to solving the affordable housing crisis, reducing our ecological footprint, and meeting new carbon emissions goals.
Preservation is not just about saving the past, it is necessary to ensure our future.
Economic Benefits of Historic Preservation
The economic benefits of historic preservation are numerous. Not only does preservation incubate creative small businesses, feed the local job market for skilled trades, and protect the unique character that drives heritage tourism, but it also stabilizes housing markets and helps to anchor younger generations who wish to live and work in authentic places.
The State of Florida Historic Preservation Special Categories Grant Program supports the preservation of the historic resources that are owned by public or non-profit organizations in a community contribute to the unique and special character of the place making them desirable as locations to live, visit, work and play.
CONSTRUCTION
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Rehabilitation of existing buildings is more labor intensive than new construction which is more material intensive.
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In the State publication, Economic Impact of Historic Preservation in Florida, between 1996 and 2008, the Special Categories Grant program created 12,459 jobs valued at $499 Million in income.
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Being local jobs, this income stays in our communities supporting other local businesses.
TOURISM
Tourism is a major driver of Florida’s economy. Preserving our important historic resources contributes to a special sense of place in our communities. This special and unique character is a natural draw for tourism.
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Heritage tourism is a significant segment of tourism, both nationally and in Florida
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Heritage tourists tend to stay in a place longer and spend more per day than other tourists according to a recent national document, Twenty-Four Reasons Historic Preservation is Good for your Community, prepared by PlaceEconomics.
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A large segment of tourists chooses a destination based on heritage opportunities
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Many tourists interested in a different form of tourism engage in some heritage activities to understand the place that they are visiting
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In the State of Florida publication, Economic Impact of Historic Preservation in Florida, in 2007, heritage tourism in Florida generated 75,528 jobs representing $1.57 Billion in income.
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In 2008, VISIT FLORIDA reported that 46.7% U.S. residents who vacationed in Florida took part in history-based activities.
PROPERTY VALUES
According to PlaceEconomics, there is no area of preservation economic analysis that has been done more often than measuring the impact of local historic districts on property values. In nearly every instance properties in local historic districts have greater rates of appreciation than elsewhere in the same city.
Many have claimed that historic districts mean more regulation. Study after study has shown the opposite to be true; the values of properties have significantly benefited from local district designation.
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In recent years, historic districts have attracted younger home buyers and renters - a priority for economic growth and sustainability.
DOWNTOWN REVITALIZATION
Over time, in large cities and small towns, the most common and ultimately successful strategy in revitalizing downtown Main Street was to identify, protect, reuse, and enhance the historic buildings that differentiated downtown from the mall.
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Economic revitalization based on utilizing historic buildings is the most cost-effective program of economic development of any kind in the United States today.
For those places that reinvested and redeveloped their historic structures rather than raze them, the payoff is clear.
REAL ESTATE MARKET STRENGTH
As a general pattern, homes in historic districts do better
when the market is moving up, fall later and less steeply
when markets decline, and begin their value recovery
sooner than other neighborhoods.
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Many cities today are developing “resiliency plans.” But
resiliency isn’t limited to recovery after natural disasters.
It is also necessary after financial crises. In city after city,
it has been the local historic districts that have been the
most resilient after a real estate crash.
SMALL BUSINESSES
Small businesses, which are the core of the American economy, are almost always located in historic buildings and districts, providing vitality and variety. Start-up businesses and entrepreneurial hubs gravitate to buildings and neighborhoods out of economic necessity and to capture their local market.
Environmental Benefits of Historic Preservation
“The greenest building is the one already built.”
Carl Elefante, past president of the American Institute of Architects
This connection between the historic built environment and environmental sustainability went unrecognized by most of the environmental movement for decades, culminating in the LEED certification program which awarded more points for a single bike rack than for reusing an entire building.
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In their first major study, the Preservation Green Lab compared the environmental responsibility
between appropriately retrofitting a historic building or building a new green structure. They found among other things that it takes 10 to 80 years of operating savings of a green building to recoup the negative climate change impacts of the construction. Almost every building typology in every region of the country demonstrated a better environmental outcome through adaptive reuse than with demolition and new construction.
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Contrary to conventional wisdom, in fact the least energy use per square foot was found in buildings constructed more than 70 years ago. For multi-family properties, a structure built since 1980 used nearly 13% more energy per square foot than did an apartment built prior to 1920. While the energy efficiency has improved for buildings constructed over the last 30 years, still an office tower built since 1980 uses 33% more energy per square foot than one built nearly a century ago.
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Apart from energy usage, the amount of waste that goes into landfills when eliminating older and historic buildings is also an important factor when evaluating environmental responsibility.
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The bottom line is that to be environmentally responsible it’s necessary to reduce, reuse, recycle. The use of historic buildings does all of those things.
DIVERSITY & HISTORIC PRESERVATION
Traditionally, historic districts are seen as the domain of the rich and white. While throughout the country there are, indeed, some historic districts that are very wealthy, that is far from the norm.
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In January 2022, the national Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) released their Equity Action Plan to enhance and sustain the diversity of historic preservation across the United States. The ACHP sets standards for historic preservation and provides technical assistance to state and municipal governments, making this plan a significant step toward empowering local government to similarly advance equity in their own policies and practices.
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SAHP recognizes the essential value of diversity, supporting the preservation of all historic resources, properties, and communities in Sarasota County. It is critical that the artifacts and buildings that illustrate the stories of all those who shaped this sandy place survive so that future generations can understand how we grew and determine how they want to be remembered.