Determining the economically viable reuse of heritage buildings.
These services will be provided when a public or non governmental organization has the desire but not the capital or expertise to redevelop a heritage property by itself. This technical assistance will include evaluating the economic feasibility of the investment in the building and structuring a transaction and incentives that could attract private capital into the development.
Creating heritage-based economic development strategies for commercial historic districts.
This technical assistance will assist in establishing economic development strategies within the context of heritage resources. While occasionally this might include heritage visitation, tourism will not be the primary emphasis of these efforts. Rather, it will assist local activists in establishing approaches within commercial districts to more fully utilize and adaptively reuse historic buildings and attract private sector investment.
Measuring the economic impact of heritage conservation.
In the last decade, significant strides have been made in the United States in measuring the local economic impact of historic preservation. Among the measurables are: job creation, the effect of local historic districts on property values, heritage tourism, the local impact of museums and other heritage institutions, and heritage-based economics development strategies such as Main Street. This technical assistance will assist local professionals to define and create comparable means of measuring impact utilizing whatever local tools and data are available.
Examples
In the United Arab Emirates, HSI undertook a feasibility analysis of converting an underutilized heritage building to a boutique hotel. The client was the Directorate of Heritage, Emirate of Sharjah, UAE.
China
Donovan Rypkema of HSI led a three person team to provide technical assistance to Party and government officials dealing with heritage-based economic development in Weishan, Yunnan Province, China. The mission was organized by the US-China Arts Exchange based at Columbia University.
Historic Preservation and Economic Development in Weishan (English)
Auckland, New Zealand
HSI President Donovan Rypkema spent much of November 2010 “down under” on an assignment from the New Zealand Historic Places Trust and the Waikato Museum. Under the theme The Economics and Sustainability of Historic Preservation more than twenty presentations were made to public workshops, city council sessions, Mayors’ breakfasts, and heritage staff meetings. Rypkema’s itinerary included Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Christ Church and Dunedin.