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City unveils Main Street 'Avenue Explorer' and highlights historic tax credits to spur downtown rehab
Summary
Ashley Thomas previewed two tools for downtown economic development: a historic-district property search and an 'Avenue Explorer' QR-based directory; officials noted federal, state and tiered credits could amount to ~40% tax credits for qualifying income-producing properties, making rehabilitation more attractive to investors.
Ashley Thomas presented a pilot 'historic district property explorer' and an 'Avenue Explorer' phone-based directory intended to help property owners, investors and visitors navigate the city’s Main Street district and learn about historic-tax-credit eligibility.
Thomas said the property search replaces a 350-page PDF survey and allows users to search by address to determine whether a building is a contributing property and therefore may qualify for rehabilitation tax credits. She explained that qualifying income-producing properties may be eligible for a federal tax credit (reported as 20%), a state credit (reported as 15%) and an additional 5% for the county’s tier designation — a combined potential of about 40% on eligible projects.
She demonstrated the Avenue Explorer’s links to business websites and social pages and said the city produced the pilot in-house; businesses can request custom listings, coupons or other content. Thomas provided a contact for business owners (athomas@roanokerapidsnc.gov) and said the downtown portion of the tool will be launched in the coming weeks.
Why it matters: Making historic-preservation incentives and local business information easier to access aims to encourage private investment in downtown building rehabilitation and to promote economic activity by directing visitors to local merchants.
Council thanked Thomas for the pilot preview and encouraged staff to continue the rollout.
