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P R E S E R V A T I O N

Property Values in Indiana

P R E S E R V A T I O N

Property Values in Indiana

Donovan D. Rypkema

Historic Landmarks Foundation of IndianaIndianapolis

I N T R O D U C T I O N

In Elkhart the rate ofappreciation of propertiesin the historic district, a par-ticularly depressed area,mirrored the rate of appre-ciation of the entire Elkhartmarket.

In Evansville the appre-ciation of properties withinthe local historic district out-paced both the surroundinghistoric properties not in-cluded in the local districtand the overall Evansvillemarket.

In Indianapolis the prop-erty values in the local his-toric district increased at arate consistent with the met-ropolitan Indianapolis over-all market and exceededthe rate of both the adjacentand highly similar neighbor-hood and the larger areaof Indianapolis within whichit sits.

In Vincennes, while theamount of appreciation overthe fifteen-year period wasmodest for both commercialand residential properties,commercial properties inthe downtown historic districtmaintained a pattern ofappreciation similar to boththe rest of the commercialproperties and the overallVincennes real estate market.

The cities within whichthe districts were locatedvaried widely in size, loca-tion within the state, andhealth of the local real estatemarket. In spite of thesevariations the results wereremarkably consistent:regardless of the historicdistrict, the community,

Historic Landmarks Foun-dation decided property val-ues provided one concretemeasure of the effect of localhistoric districts. To quantifythe impact of local districtson property values, wecommissioned DonovanRypkema, a Washington,DC real estate expert. Wecollaboratively selected rep-resentative districts in Ander-son, Elkhart, Evansville, In-dianapolis and Vincennesfor the study. Rypkema’sstudy methodology, detailedon the next page, centeredon Multiple Listings Serviceand U.S. census data.

I’m pleased to report thatour instincts are solidly veri-fied by the numbers. As thisstudy shows, property valuesrise with local historic districtdesignation, equaling if notoutpacing similar, undesig-nated areas and often theperformance of the city asa whole. In addition to docu-menting the positive eco-nomic effect of such protec-tive regulation, the studyreveals other benefits—wecall them “historic districtbonuses”—both for the resi-dents and the communityas a whole.

We hope Preservation& Property Values is usefulto communities throughoutIndiana as they weigh thebenefits of creating preser-vation commissions anddesignating older neighbor-hoods as historic districts.

J. Reid Williamson, Jr.PresidentHistoric LandmarksFoundation of Indiana

September 1997

P R E F A C E

Historic Landmarks Foun-dation of Indiana has advo-cated local historic districtsas a method of revitalizingand protecting landmarkneighborhoods for more than30 years. Time enough todevelop a measurable trackrecord, and to evaluate thebottom line.

We believed local districtdesignation was making adifference because we couldsee the positive changes.Take Lockerbie Square inIndianapolis, for example.In 1974, boarded and dilapi-dated houses and unsightlyvacant lots dominated thearea around the preservedmuseum home of JamesWhitcomb Riley. Today,Lockerbie is a charming re-stored neighborhood and ahighly desirable downtownaddress where propertyowners must receive priorapproval from the India-napolis Historic PreservationCommission for exteriorrehabilitation, new construc-tion, and demolition. Virtu-ally every house has beenrestored, and nearly everyvacant lot filled by a newhome.

We concede that Lockerbiehad some early advantages,not least of which was His-toric Landmarks’ dramatictransformation of a key prop-erty and a revolving fund weoperated there which causedthe timely restoration ofmany houses. In an averagedistrict, we wondered, whathath local designationwrought? Does the visualand economic improvementexist only in the eyes andminds of preservationists?

The question was straight-forward—“What is the impacton property values of localhistoric districts in Indiana?”Historic Landmarks Founda-tion of Indiana commissionedme to answer that basic ques-tion, and to analyze the datafor other effects.

I collaborated with HistoricLandmarks in the selectionof local historic districts infive cities, guided by thedesire to represent the geog-raphy of the entire state andcommunities of various sizes.We chose districts in Ander-son, Elkhart, Evansville,Indianapolis and Vincennes;these districts also representvariety in terms of buildingsize, age, price, architecturalquality and demographiccharacteristics. Four districtsin the study are residential;in one case, the studyfocused on the predominantlycommercial area of a district.Finally, we chose local his-toric districts which havebeen in place long enoughfor the impact on propertyvalues to be measurable.

These findings revealthat local historic districtsin Indiana not only providevaluable protection for eachcommunity’s historical re-sources but protect and en-hance individuals’ financialresources as well. In lookingat local historic districts infive Indiana communitieswe learned that:

In Anderson the valuesof properties in the studyareas steadily appreciatedafter the creation of thehistoric districts.

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the type of property, or thecondition of the local realestate economy, no evidencewas found to suggest that alocal historic district adverselyaffected property values.

The Multiple Listings Serviceand U.S. Census data thatwas analyzed also showedseveral other substantialbenefits of local district status:

Historic districts oftenmirror the entire communityin terms of their economic,educational and racialdiversity.

Historic districts promoteincreased levels of homeownership.

People moving into his-toric districts aren’t just pass-ing through but tend to behome owners for extendedperiods, adding stability tothe neighborhood.

Buyers who choose his-toric districts often havewider choices and get morehouse, dollar for dollar, fortheir money.

Historic downtown stilleffectively serves its tradi-tional multifunctional rolein a community.

When the subject of his-toric district status is raisedin a city or neighborhood,Historic Landmarks Founda-tion reports that the mostcommon, anxiously posedquestion is “Won’t my prop-erty values go down if Ihave to submit to whateverrequirements the preserva-tion commission decides

to impose?” In addition toproviding an authoritativeanswer—“No, your propertyvalues will not decline; infact, they will probablyrise.”—this investigation ofyears’ worth of historic pres-ervation commission recordssuggests that commissionsneither prevent investmentin new construction nor rou-tinely say “no” to the pro-posals before them.

These findings shouldencourage communities tocreate local historic districts.In neighborhoods desig-nated and regulated by his-toric preservation commis-sions, property values aregenerally positively affected;change that is positive for thedistrict is not only allowedbut actively encouraged;and investment often takesplace when a neighborhood’sassets are protected. Themathematically demonstrableevidence shows such districtsto be valuable tools for safe-guarding and strengtheningthe physical, economic andsocial fabric of Indiana’sneighborhoods and cities.

Donovan D. RypkemaReal Estate Services GroupWashington, DC

The criteria used to determine the cities and districts in-cluded in the Preservation & Property Values study were out-lined in the introduction. After jointly selecting the geographyto be studied, a variety of methodological approaches wasused in order to learn as much as possible within the budget-ary scope of the project. Multiple Listing Services (MLS) datamaintained by the local Boards of Realtors provided the basedata for all property value comparisons. However, also evalu-ated were census data, records of local preservation com-missions, City Directories, and other public records.

Every sale reported in the subject districts was included forevaluation, and contributed to the calculations and graphsof the average yearly sales price for the fifteen-year periodfrom 1980 to 1995. Because of the relatively small numberof sales in any year in a given district (sometimes as few asfour or five) the unadjusted sales data do not provide an ac-curate reflection of changes taking place over time. Thereforethe graphs in this report depict the trend line, superimposedover the raw data represented in the columns shown behindthe trend lines. The trend lines were created mathematicallyby Microsoft Excel™ using the formula y = ce ^bx.

Where trend lines and narrative show property value compari-sons to the city as a whole, they are based on a comparisonof MLS data for every sale (residential sales in four cities andcommercial sales in Vincennes) recorded during the studyperiod. In the case of Vincennes, MLS data was examined forevery commercial sale within the downtown Vincennes his-toric district between 1982 and the first quarter of 1996.These figures were then compared with all of the commercialsales outside of the downtown over the same period, as wellas the average MLS sales price of all properties sold duringthe period.

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S T U D Y M E T H O D O L O G Y

★Anderson

★Evansville

Indianapolis★

Elkhart★

★ Vincennes

Street versus $32-37.80/square foot in the newerneighborhoods.

The Anderson historicdistricts offered anotheradvantage over the otherneighborhoods (see chartsat right). Buyers couldchoose from a substantialnumber of houses at severalprice points: they couldeasily find a home for lessthan $20,000 (23%) or over$60,000 (19%), or somewherein between—$20,000-39,000(41%) and $40,000-59,000(17%). The range of housingoptions was much narrowerin the three competingneighborhoods, where only5% of homes sold for lessthan $20,000 and just 8%could be purchased for over$60,000.

In Anderson, real estateprofessionals identified fiveneighborhoods that offeredchoices for first-time homebuyers and those lookingfor housing in the more af-fordable range: the two his-toric districts and three newersubdivisions (Hilltop, SouthView and Meadowbrook).While houses in the historicdistricts fell in the middle ofthe range of average sellingprices—from $52,853 in Hill-top to $32,171 in Meadow-brook—the homes are 79%larger on average than homesin the subdivisions. Historicdistrict buyers therefore gotmuch more house for theirmoney: $14.70/square footin West Central and $21.50/square foot in West Eighth

Anderson, (pop. 60,000) ineast central Indiana has twohistoric districts—the West8th Street Historic District(WESHD) and the West Cen-tral Historic District (WCHD)—both created in 1985 andviewed with pride by thecommunity. In fact, Commu-nity Profile: A Vision for theFuture 20/20 Foresight pro-claimed “the need to preserveand protect the distinctivequalities of historical, archi-tectural and culturally signifi-cant buildings of the districtsis essential in enhancing thequality of life in our City.” TheAnderson Historic and Cul-tural Preservation Commis-sion carries out local designreview in the districts, includ-ing approval of proposedexterior renovation and newconstruction. Both districtsalso are listed in the NationalRegister of Historic Places.

WHAT HAPPENED TOPROPERTY VALUES?

From 1980 to 1995, boththe West Eighth Street His-toric District and the WestCentral Historic District ex-perienced property valueappreciation. The trendof appreciation acceleratedslightly after the creation ofthe historic districts in 1985.

HISTORICDISTRICT BONUS

Buyers who decide onhouses in historic districtsoften have wider choicesand get more for theirmoney.

Anderson

Property Values: Anderson Historic Districts

WCHD

★Anderson

WESHD

3

$60,000

$50,000

$40,000

$30,000

$20,000

$10,000

1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995

Housing Options – Historic Districts

$40-59,999

$20-39,999

Less than $20,000

Over $60,000

23%

19%

17%

41%

S N A P S H O T S

Less than $20,000

$20-39,999

$40-59,999

Over $60,000

8%5%

53%

34%

Predominant architecturalstyles: Gothic, Greek Re-vival, Italianate, Free Classic,Colonial Revival

West Central Historic District

Boundaries: Brown-Delaware,10th, John and 13th streets

Period of significantarchitecture: 1885-1910

Number of buildings:192 structures

Predominant architecturalstyles: Italianate, QueenAnne, Bungalow

4

Housing Options – Newer Subdivisions

Building accelerated inboth areas following the1887 discovery of naturalgas, when Anderson pro-moted itself as the “QueenCity of the Gas Belt.”

West 8th Street HistoricDistrict

Boundaries: 7th, 9th, Jack-son and Henry streets



Buyers in Anderson’s historicdistricts—West 8th Street (above)and West Central (left)—get morespace and architectural detail fortheir money than buyers in recentlydeveloped neighborhoods.

Elkhart

The State-Division Street His-toric District ranks as the“first fashionable subdivision”in the northern Indiana cityof Elkhart (pop. 45,000). Firstdeveloped in the 1860s and1870s following the arrival ofthe Lake Shore and MichiganSouthern Railroad shops, thearea housed an economi-cally diverse population fromits earliest days; while single-family homes predominate,the area also contains row-houses, flats, and duplexes.The Elkhart Historic & Cul-tural Preservation Commis-sion locally designated thenear-downtown district in1984 and exercises reviewover renovation, demolitionand new construction in thedistrict. A nomination cur-rently is being prepared tolist the district in the NationalRegister of Historic Places.


The study produced twoconclusions: first, the rateof appreciation within thehistoric district paralleledthe appreciation rate in thecity of Elkhart as a wholeover the period from 1980through 1995; and second,the average values of hous-ing in the historic districtwere significantly below

average values in the city.The latter finding suggeststhat the historic district pro-vides affordable housing—and appreciating assets—topeople of modest means.


The historic district re-flects the breadth of thecommunity’s diversity.

Many neighborhoods,particularly newer subdivi-sions, house narrow slicesof a community’s popula-tion. Few neighborhoodsreflect the economic, social,racial, and educational diver-sity of the entire community.This is true in small andlarge cities alike, not onlyin Indiana but throughoutAmerica. However, everyresidential historic districtincluded in this study

Property Values: Elkhart Market & Historic District

5

$80,000

$70,000

$60,000

$50,000

$40,000

$30,000

$20,000

$10,000

1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995

★Elkhart

State-Division Street Historic District

Elkhart Market

S N A P S H O T

State-Division StreetHistoric District

Boundaries: Midpoint oflots facing Marion St. (N),NYC Railroad (S), Monroeand Waterfall streets (E),midpoint of lots facing MainStreet (W)

Period of significant archi-tecture: 1860s-1920s


Predominant architecturalstyles: Italianate, QueenAnne, Neoclassical, StickStyle, Four Square, Bungalow

Elkhart County

Similar Neighborhood

Elkhart City

Historic District

Long-Term Home Ownership - Owned 20+ Years

50%

45%

40%

35%

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

displayed a greater rangeof the community’s entirepopulation among its resi-dents than other areas,whether newer subdivisionsor older neighborhoods notrecognized as historic districts(see chart on page 13).

Elkhart’s State-DivisionStreet Historic District servesas a useful example. In threedemographic categories—race, occupation and educa-tion—residents of the his-toric district closely reflectthe entire community. Noother neighborhoods in thecity came close to mirroringthe community as a whole.

The Elkhart historic districtis less reflective, however,in one important area —in-come. The district encom-passes a greater percentageof both Elkhart’s high- andlow-income families (withthe spectrum in betweenalso represented) in a singleneighborhood. While there

are a variety of perspectiveson urban problems inAmerica, there is an almostuniversal agreement thatisolating less well-to-docitizens in exclusively poorneighborhoods serves noone well. That Elkhart’shistoric district—and everyother one in this study—provides an economicallyintegrated neighborhood isone of the most significantcontributions it makes inits community.

People moving into historicdistricts aren’t just passingthrough but tend to be homeowners for extended periods,adding stability to the neigh-borhood.

The study compared theState-Division Street HistoricDistrict with the city as awhole. Slightly more than50% of the homeownersin the historic district hadbeen in the neighborhoodfor twenty years or longer;in the city, only 31% ofowners had a comparablestable tenure.

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Research in Elkhart shows that historic districts like State-Division Streetoffer appreciating property values, stability, and socio-economic diversity.

★Evansville

Evansville, (pop. 130,000), anOhio River city in the southwestcorner of the state, claims one ofIndiana’s first local historic dis-tricts—the Old Evansville Preser-vation Area (OEPA), created in1974. In 1978, a larger area—including Old Evansville—waslisted in the National Register ofHistoric Places as the RiversideHistoric District.

The area developed primarilybetween 1836 and 1920; earlyresidents included many ofEvansville’s most prominent citi-zens, who built imposing housesthat expressed the wealth of theirowners, but it also shelteredclerks, shopkeepers, and crafts-men in more modest homes. Asis not uncommon in older neigh-borhoods, economic and socialchanges brought adverse condi-tions to the area. The NationalRegister nomination notes, “Intime, and particularly during theperiod between the two WorldWars, the descendants of theoriginal families began to moveout, and the area deteriorated asmore and more of these substan-tial houses were divided intosmaller rental units or convertedto other uses.”

The Original Evansville Preser-vation Commission oversees OldEvansville, which encompassesapproximately 60% of the largerRiverside district. It is importantto note that there are neitherprotections nor regulations inNational Register districts. There-fore, only the properties in theRiverside Historic District thatare also within the boundariesof the locally designated OldEvansville Preservation Area areprotected by design review,demolitionlimitationand other controls.

Evansville


Old Evansville is uniqueamong the districts in thestudy in two important ways:first, the Old EvansvillePreservation Area (OEPA)was the only one of thedistricts evaluated wherethe average housing valueswere significantly greaterthan the market as a whole;and second, the local his-toric district is part of alarger National Register His-toric District. This situationallowed a revealing analysis.

Values in the entire River-side Historic District appre-ciated at a rate faster thanthe Evansville market as awhole from 1979 throughJune 1996. When the twocomponents of the RiversideHistoric District—the locallyprotected Old EvansvillePreservation Area and theunregulated balance of thedistrict—are compared, amore refined picture emerges.Data showed that the rate ofappreciation is significantlygreater for those propertieswithin the OEPA, the locallydesignated and controlledportion of the district.

7

Entire Riverside Historic District

Property Values: Evansville Market & Riverside Historic District

$140,000

$120,000

$100,000

$80,000

$60,000

$40,000

$20,000

1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996

Evansville Market

8

S N A P S H O T S

Riverside Historic District

Boundaries: Roughlybounded by SE Third andFourth streets, Parrett, Riv-erside Drive and Veteran’sParkway, and Walnut Street



Predominant architecturalstyles: Federal, GreekRevival, Shotgun, Gothic,Italianate, Second Empire,Queen Anne, Prairie, FourSquare, Mission, Crafts-man, Renaissance Revival,Colonial Revival, TudorRevival, Free Classic

Old Evansville PreservationArea

Boundaries: Roughlybounded by SE Second andThird streets, Blackford Av-enue, Shawnee Drive, River-side Drive and Veteran’sParkway, Walnut and Oakstreets



Predominant architecturalstyles: Federal, GreekRevival, Italianate, SecondEmpire, Queen Anne, Prairie,Four Square, RenaissanceRevival, Colonial Revival,Tudor Revival, Free Classic

$140,000

$120,000

$100,000

$80,000

$60,000

$40,000

$20,000

Property Values: Riverside Historic District & Old Evansville Preservation Area

Old Evansville Preservation Area

Like many historic districts,Riverside includes largehomes restored by affluentresidents as well as smallcottages and multi-familybuildings housing people ofmodest means.

While property values in the Riverside Historic Districtappreciated at a faster rate than the Evansville market as awhole, the locally regulated Old Evansville portion of thedistrict saw an even steeper increase.

1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996

Riverside Historic District

$90,000

$80,000

$70,000

$60,000

$50,000

$40,000

$30,000

$20,000

$10,000

Property Values: Two Historic Districts

Indianapolis

In Indiana’s capital city, the study looked at property val-ues in adjacent neighborhoods—Fletcher Place and HolyRosary-Danish Church—both listed in the National Register,and one locally designated.

The Fletcher Place Historic District is one of ten historicdistricts under the jurisdiction of the Indianapolis HistoricPreservation Commission. Located a half-mile southeast ofMonument Circle, Fletcher Place won local historic districtstatus in 1980 and was listed in the National Register ofHistoric Places in 1982. The boundaries of the local andnational districts are virtually the same.

Much of the area was platted in 1855, and by 1872 thesubdivision was known as Fletcher Place. Worker’s cot-tages for Irish and German immigrants dominated theneighborhood, although successful local entrepreneursbuilt larger homes along Fletcher Avenue. Near theend of the nineteenth century, Italian and centralEuropean immigrants began purchasing existinghouses and building new modest-sized dwellingsin a variety of architectural styles.

With significant movement to the suburbs follow-ing World War II, the near-downtown neighborhooddeclined and suffered encroachment by industrialuses. Recent history has been kinder: for nearlytwo decades, Fletcher Place has been experienc-ing incremental revitalization.

The Holy Rosary-Danish Church neighborhoodlies adjacent to and has an early history thatstrongly parallels Fletcher Place. Platted in 1854,the area was initially occupied by German, Irish,Scottish and Welsh laborers in rental cottages. Bythe 1880s Danes had become a significant ethnicpopulation in the neighborhood, but by 1910 theylargely had been replaced by Italian immigrants.Holy Rosary-Danish Church became a NationalRegister Historic District in 1986.

The two neighborhoods are nearly twins. Theage, history, housing size and style, and proximityto downtown and transportation connections arevirtually identical. There is one significant differencehowever: Fletcher Place is a locally designated his-toric district under the purview of the IndianapolisHistoric Preservation Commission, while HolyRosary-Danish Church enjoys no local protectionor regulation.

Holy Rosary-Danish Church

Fletcher Place Historic District


While both neighborhoodsappreciated over the period1982-1995, Fletcher Place—the locally designated historicdistrict—appreciated at asignificantly greater rate.Data available from the India-napolis Metropolitan AreaBoard of Realtors includesthe average selling prices ofall houses in the Indianapolismetropolitan area and a

smaller area representingthe southeast quadrant ofcentral Indianapolis whereboth Fletcher Place and HolyRosary-Danish Church arelocated.

The data shows that therate of appreciation in theHoly Rosary-Danish Churchneighborhood mirrored therate in southeast quadrantof the city, while FletcherPlace not only significantlyout-performed the southeast

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1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995

Indianapolis

S N A P S H O T S

Fletcher Place

Boundaries: roughly I-65/70, Penn Central railroadtracks, Virginia Avenue,and East Street


Number of buildings:approx. 150 structures

Predominant architecturalstyles: Vernacular andQueen Anne cottages,Italianate

Holy Rosary-Danish Church

Boundaries: roughly VirginiaAvenue, I-65/70, and EastStreet


Number of buildings:approx. 230 structures

Predominant architecturalstyles: Vernacular andQueen Anne cottages

quadrant but largely paral-leled the rate of value growthfor the entire metropolitanregion—including Indiana-polis’s booming suburbs.As in Elkhart, the statisticsprove that both historicneighborhoods are providingquality housing across abroad range of price levelsand attracting a more eco-nomically, socially and edu-cationally diverse populationthan is typically found inneighborhoods and subdivi-sions in the Indianapolismarketplace.

How could there be botha greater percentage of homeownership and more unitsof rental housing? FletcherPlace experienced a combi-nation of new construction,reinvestment in formerlyvacant structures, andconversion of non-residentialproperties into residentialuse. Such investment is oftenattracted to historic districts.


Historic districts promoteincreased levels of homeownership.

The investment protectionprovided by a local historicdistrict may well be an over-looked catalyst for homeownership, an aspect of theAmerican dream that hasbeen a long-standing publicpolicy priority of local, stateand national governmentsfor decades. In these side-by-side and almost identicalIndianapolis neighborhoods,the 1980 ratio of home own-ers to renters was close—34%of the residents in FletcherPlace were owners and 29%in Holy Rosary-DanishChurch. By 1990, while homeownership increased to 38%in Holy Rosary-DanishChurch, the ratio of ownersto renters had virtuallyreversed in Fletcher Place,moving to 66%.

Lest this be interpreted asmore affluent home buyerschasing out renters, how-ever, three additional obser-vations are significant:

There were more house-holds renting in FletcherPlace in 1990 than in 1980.

The percentage of long-term renters and owners inFletcher Place was signifi-cantly greater than for India-napolis in general.

Fletcher Place continuesto be an affordable neigh-borhood for both renters andowners as compared to theoverall Indianapolis market.

★

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While Holy Rosary-DanishChurch (below) saw animpressive increase in homeownership, the rise wasmuch more dramatic in thelocally designated FletcherPlace historic district, whererehabilitation of multi-familystructures (right), alsoincreased the number ofrental units for low- andmoderate-income residents.

Vincennes

In Vincennes, a portion of thehistoric district is commercialin nature, encompassingdowntown Vincennes. Situ-ated on the Wabash River insouthwestern Indiana, Vin-cennes (pop. 20,000) wasestablished as a French fortin 1732 and ranks as Indiana’soldest city. During the Revo-lutionary War the fort wasoccupied for a time by theBritish before being taken byGeorge Rogers Clark and hisfollowers. When Indiana be-came a Territory, Vincenneswas its first capital.

The Vincennes HistoricDistrict includes the majorityof downtown and extendsinto abutting residential ar-eas where the earliest struc-tures date from as early as1806. The study investigatedonly the commercial portionof the district. Listedin the NationalRegister of HistoricPlaces in 1974, thedistrict was locallydesignated adecade later by theVincennes HistoricReview Board.

In spite of these difficul-ties, however, a surprisinglyconsistent pattern emerges.While the value of down-town commercial propertieson average was less thanthat of commercial proper-ties in other parts of Vin-cennes, the trend line ofvalue movement was essen-tially parallel. Furthermore,the modest rate of apprecia-tion over the decade and ahalf for commercial proper-ties corresponded with theoverall Vincennes market,which saw significant devel-opment along the highwaythat skirts the edges of thecity. While downtowns in


Three challenges becameapparent in the Vincennesdata collected for the fif-teen-year study period: first,commercial sales are farfewer than residential sales,which makes statisticalanalysis more difficult; sec-ond, the real estate marketin Vincennes was muchmore volatile than in theother four cities; and third,the appreciation of Vin-cennes real estate wasmodest.

general are often dismissedas being obsolete as busi-ness centers and no longerappealing as investments,historic downtown Vincennesmore than held its own inrelation to the overall market.

Property Values: Historic Downtown, Commercial Market & Overall Market

Overall Market

11

Historic Downtown

Commercial Market

1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996$120,000

$100,000

$80,000

$60,000

$40,000

$20,000

★ Vincennes


Historic downtown stilleffectively serves its tradi-tional role in a community.

Some think that down-town has been economi-cally, physically and sociallyreplaced by the shoppingmall, the office park, andthe discount center. Prop-erty values in the historicdistrict covering downtownVincennes suggest other-wise. Downtowns tradition-ally have served three im-portant economic roles ina community: 1) as a geo-graphically defined, multi-functional setting for a vari-ety of economic activities;2) as an informal incubatorfor new businesses whichneed both affordable spaceand the interaction with anumber of other types ofactivities; and 3) as the per-manent home of institutionsand long-term businesses.

S N A P S H O T

Vincennes Historic DistrictBoundaries: Wabash River,College, 9th and Willowstreets


Number of buildings:1,878 structures (87%residential, 13% commer-cial/office)

Predominant architecturalstyles: in the commercialportion of the district cov-ered by the study, stylesrange from Federal toItalianate

Historic downtown Vin-cennes continues to serveall three functions. In addi-tion to MLS data, the studyemployed the Vincennes CityDirectory to make a compari-son of downtown Vincennesin 1980 and 1995, with thefollowing key findings:

Nearly thirty percent ofthe non-residential activitiesin downtown Vincennes hadbeen in their current loca-tion for fifteen years orlonger.

Over the last decade, anaverage of twenty new busi-nesses a year chose to locatein downtown Vincennes.

The data showed a con-sistent pattern of downtownbusinesses expanding to ad-ditional space or relocatingto a larger space within thedowntown as they becamemore successful.

12

Commercial property in Vincennes’historic downtown held its own, evenwhile rival development sprouted alongthe highway on the outskirts of town.

A F T E R W O R D

Historic preservationcommissions are sometimesviewed—usually by peoplewho do not live in historicdistricts—as bureaucraticnaysayers, spoolers of redtape and hassling regulationthat’s not worth the difficulty.Resoundingly not true, ac-cording to this study. Inves-tigation of case files for thefive cities covered in thestudy show that the historicpreservation commissionsapproved the applicationsthat came before them morethan 90% of the time.

Couple this finding withthe evidence showing thatproperty appreciates morerapidly in local historic dis-tricts controlled by preserva-tion commissions, and the

certificate of appropriatenessprocess followed by mostcommissions begins to looklike a benign process thatputs money in the bank.The buyer of property ina local district trades totalfreedom to do as he pleaseswith the exterior of his prop-erty for the comforting as-surance that property aroundhim will be renovated andmaintained in a manner thatis likely to enhance the valueof his own property.

A handful of other lessonslearned while undertakingthis analysis were less easyto quantify and representin charts and graphs but areimportant nonetheless:

The image of historicdistrict residents being richhome owners displacingpoor renters was not foundto be true in any of the dis-tricts studied. In fact the re-verse was often the case—historic districts effectivelyprovide quality housing forcitizens of every economiclevel.

Indiana has a wealth ofhistoric residential and com-mercial historic districts thatare not only providing agood investment for thisgeneration, but conservingman-made cultural andphysical resources for thenext generation. Cities andtowns in Indiana would dowell—for current citizensand posterity—to createpreservation commissionswhere they do not exist anddesignate eligible areas aslocal historic districts.

Historic districts seemto have the greatest positiveimpact on property valueswhen the preservation com-missions in control have ef-fective communication oftheir rules and clear guide-lines, firmly and consistentlyapplied.

The existence of a strongneighborhood organization,whether created before orafter the establishment of thehistoric district, has a posi-tive impact—socially andeconomically—on the district.

Investment will be at-tracted sooner and more con-sistently if there is a packageof incentives—“carrots” suchas design assistance, low-interest loan programs andthe like—to accompany theregulations or “sticks” of thehistoric district commission.

Household Income - Elkhart & Historic District

13

Most locally regulatedhistoric districts are not eliteenclaves; instead, rich andpoor and those in the middlecoexist, as in Elkhart’s State-Division Street district.

Less than $10,000 $10,000-24,999 $25,000-49,999 $50,000-99,999 $100,000+50%

45%

40%

35%

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

State-Division StreetHistoric District

City of Elkhart

A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S

The author wishes to thankmany individuals and cityoffices who shared informa-tion critical to the completionof the Preservation & Prop-erty Values study:

ANDERSON

Roger R. Reed, F.C. Tucker/O.C. Clark, Realtors

Leon A. Mudd, AmericanUnited Appraisal Company

Jim Haberek, Planning De-partment, City of Anderson

ELKHART

Bridget Lail, communityactivist

Kathy Bradley, ElkhartBoard of Realtors

Patricia Lake, City of Elkhart

EVANSVILLE

Barbara Cunningham,Executive Director, Evans-ville-Vanderburgh CountyArea Plan Commission

Betty J. Gilles, Evansville-Vanderburgh County AreaPlan Commission

Joan Marchand*, HistoricPreservation Officer, City ofEvansville

David Matthews, DavidMatthews and Associates

Shirley McDowell, EvansvilleBoard of Realtors

Pigeon Township AssessorsOffice,Vanderburgh County

Darrell Veach, Chair, Origi-nal Evansville PreservationCommission

Larry Young, Realtor

INDIANAPOLIS

David Baker & Parker Cohen,Indianapolis Historic Preser-vation Commission

Metropolitan IndianapolisBoard of Realtors

Planning Division, Depart-ment of Metropolitan Devel-opment, City of Indianapolis

VINCENNES

Garry Hall, Appraisal andManagement Services

Toni Holmes, Arnold RealEstate, Vincennes

Vincennes Township Asses-sors Office, Knox County

Knox County Boardof Realtors

Mayor’s Office &City Engineer’s Office,City of Vincennes

HISTORIC LANDMARKSFOUNDATION OFINDIANAJ. Reid Williamson, Jr.,President

Karen Kiemnec, Preservation& Property Values ProjectCoordinator

Michael Carter*Tina ConnorMark DollaseHays HendricksFred HolycrossAmy Kotzbauer

*deceased

Historic Landmarks Founda-tion of Indiana thanks thecontributors whose generos-ity made the Preservation &Property Values study andpublication possible.

CONTRIBUTORS

Indiana Department ofCommerce (CommunityPromotion Fund Grant)

City of ElkhartEdmund L. Hafer & Asso-ciates, Architect

Indiana Humanities CouncilIndianapolis Historic Pres-ervation Commission

Lawyers Title InsuranceCorporation

National Trust for HistoricPreservation

Samuel B. Sutphin &Kerry Dineen

City of Vincennes

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Anderson Downtown Neigh-bors Association

Anderson Urban EnterpriseAssociation

City of AuroraElkhart Historic & Cultural

Preservation CommissionCity of HammondHistoric West Eighth Street

Neighborhood AssociationHuntington Historic Review

BoardLaPorte Historic Review

BoardCity of MishawakaCity of NappaneeCity of ScottsburgTown of West Baden Springs

Scott W. BergerCostello + AssociatesEast Central Neighborhood

AssociationDelaware County Historical

AllianceGreater Crown Point Chamber

of CommerceMinnetrista Central Neighbor-

hood AssociationBarbara QuillingJames & Patsy Smith

Anderson Historic and Cultural Preservation Commission 765-646-9690

Elkhart Historic & Cultural Preservation Commission 219-294-5471

Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission 317-327-4406

Original Evansville Preservation Commission 812-435-5226

Vincennes Historic Review Board 812-886-4692

HISTORIC LANDMARKS FOUNDATION OF INDIANA

Headquarters, Indianapolis 317-639-4534 / 800-450-4534

Central Regional Office, Indianapolis 317-639-4534 / 800-450-4534

Northern Regional Office, South Bend 219-232-4534

Southern Regional Office, Jeffersonville 812-284-4534

Southeast Field Representative, Aurora 812-926-0983

Eastern Regional Office, Cambridge City 765-478-3172

Western Regional Office, Terre Haute 812-232-4534

Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana, a private not-for-profit or-ganization, is the largest statewide preservation group in the U.S. His-toric Landmarks saves and protects buildings and places of architec-tural and historical significance. From its network of regional offices,Historic Landmarks leads and assists individuals, organizations andcommunities in preserving and revitalizing endangered landmarksthrough education, advocacy, and financial support. A membership or-ganization, Historic Landmarks seeks to enrich contemporary life andleave a legacy of landmarks.

For information about becoming a member, call or write:

F O R M O R E I N F O R M A T I O N

340 West Michigan StreetIndianapolis, IN 46202

317-639-4534 / 800-450-4534

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©Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana340 West Michigan StreetIndianapolis, IN 46202317-639-4534 / 800-450-4534

Credits:Study director & author: Donovan D. RypkemaProject Coordinator: Karen KiemnecResearch assistants: Jeffery E. Jutte & Jena R. NollEditor: Tina ConnorDesigner: Ed NormanPrinter: Benham PressProduced in cooperation with the Indiana Department of CommerceSeptember 1997

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