We're talking about the impact and the future of historical preservation within a city like Las Vegas.

That's this week on Nevada Week.

♪♪♪ Support for Nevada Week is provided by Senator William H. Hernstadt and additional supporting sponsors.

(Kipp Ortenburger) Preserving the past might seem incongruous to some in a city that is always reimagining, repurposing and rebuilding anew.

But others would argue preserving Las Vegas' history, though brief in comparison to some other major cities in the U.S., is not a "nice to have" but a "must have" as we look to the future.

On today's show we're going to explore two key historic areas in Las Vegas, Downtown and the Historic Westside, two very diverse neighborhoods that are undergoing very significant revitalization efforts.

We'll talk with our expert panel about why the protection and preservation of historical structures, sites and even the districts themselves can have such great economic and social implications.

We'll also examine how to best balance redevelopment and revitalization with historic preservation.

And then finally, how do we stack up compared to other cities in preserving this history, and how might we do it better?

Well, to discuss all of this, please welcome Kristen Brown, architectural historian at the Nevada State Historic Preservation Office; Heidi Swank, executive director at Rethos and past executive director at the Nevada Preservation Foundation; Diane Siebrandt, historic preservation officer at the City of Las Vegas, and Cynthia Ammerman, executive director at the Nevada Preservation Foundation.

Well, thank you so much for being here.

We really appreciate it.

I want to get right into the conversation and talk about Downtown first off.

It's such a fascinating conversation, such a fascinating mix when you look at some of the rebuilding and regrowth that's going on in Downtown, let's say along Fremont Street there of course with Circa probably being kind of the epitome of growth and rebuilding, and as you move east along Fremont, you've got all the hotels that Tony Hsieh owned.

A lot of those are boarded up, but a lot of City of Las Vegas revitalization going on there, a lot of infrastructure and aesthetics being put into that area.

And then of course surrounding that area, some of our first residential areas with mid-century homes.

It seems everywhere you turn there's more history, and that's exactly what we want to talk about.

Heidi, I want to go to you first and open the discussion.

When you're looking at historic preservation in a city like Las Vegas, particularly in Downtown, why is it so important to the city itself, but also the larger region of Southern Nevada?

(Heidi Swank) Well, I would say to start off, one of the things I always talk about with historic preservation is if we want someday-- we all think about Boston and cities like that out East that have this amazing history, and if someday we want Las Vegas to have its own amazing history, we need to keep those buildings around.

So at some point in Boston's history, they made a decision not to tear down buildings, to reuse them, and then 50, 100 years later, they have these wonderful buildings that we all think of.

As I think about as you were kind of walking us down Fremont Street, I could picture all of those great buildings, right?

The original tile that's on the Four Queens, the folded-plate facade that's on the Four Queens also.

You go to the El Cortez that has that amazing weeping mortar.

And then you go to the Ferguson, down to the more modest motor courts, and even Ferguson is such a great example of what can be done with those more modest buildings.

So I think it's a way for us as Las Vegans to create that sense of community and also that sense of history and pride as being from a place that has some pretty important history, not only for Southern Nevada but nationally.

-And we're going to come back to Ferguson's in just a second.

I want to get the whole panel's viewpoints on the historic preservation and the use of that site specifically.

Cynthia, I want to go to you next.

Let's talk a little bit more about the economic drivers here and what kind of economic impact historic preservation can have on an area like Downtown.

(Cynthia Ammerman) Well, you know, Heidi mentioned the local and the national significance, but we also have to-- with the economic driver for Las Vegas, we have to take into consideration that we are also an international city.

You know, we walk down the streets and you hear Russian spoke, you hear Polish.

You hear people speaking from the Middle East.

You know, we are an international destination, and a lot of these tourists are coming because they have the stories from the past and looking to find some of those stories that are told on the streetscape whether that's through the buildings, whether that's through the landscape.

So I think, you know, taking economic impact and linking historic preservation to heritage tourism is always a solid move for a city.

-And let's talk more specifically about the preservation of these buildings.

Diane, let's go to you.

A historic designation, can you give us an idea.

I know there's federal and there's the municipal side of things, too.

I mean, is that really the central pathway to protecting some of these buildings?

(Diane Siebrandt) Yes, it absolutely is.

So there are three types of designation.

There's the national, the state and the local, and it's the local designation with our city that is going to provide that protection.

So in order to be on our local register, the property owner needs to consent to being listed, and there's a process that it has to go through where there is an application that has to be submitted.

It goes through me as the historic preservation officer, and we have a panel of experts from all different historic preservation fields with our historic preservation commission, and then the application goes through them.

And what we're looking for is not only is it old.

In Las Vegas we look for something that's 40 years old or older, but it also has to have something significant to the history of Las Vegas.

Is that a person or people that are associated with that property?

Was there an event associated with that property, or is the architecture itself important to that time period?

Then it has to go through a few different processes through our planning commission, and finally to our city council, and it's usually maybe a six-month process to get a building listed.

But once it is listed, it does provide the protection where it can't be demolished, there can't be alterations, and everything that goes on at that building has to be approved through our historic preservation commission.

So it's really the be-all, get-all of preserving history here in Las Vegas.

-And 40 years, 40 years or older.

I mean, you know, when we're talking about Downtown, it seems like almost every single structure in Downtown might actually fit that bill.

Cynthia, I want to come back to you and talk a little bit about what the Historic Preservation Foundation can provide.

I'm sure there's probably a lot of residents listening right now that might live in some of these areas and say, I could have a structure here, a house particularly, that could get this designation.

-Well, I want to, you know, applaud Las Vegas first of all for having that 40-year mark because that's some of my work I've done in other cities is kind of integrating that.

Let's start looking at buildings at 35 years because you kind of have a sense if something significant has already happened at that location.

So for what we can do as a preservation organization is to offer that assistance for eligibility to determine, you know, if your house might be historic, if a commercial property is historic, and provide and actually prepare those applications that is reviewed at the City.

So we can offer those services and finding that research to determine if, you know, you have a historic building.

-Kristen, can you give us some insight on some of the incentives here?

First off, if you do have a building that is designated historic, is there incentive?

Are there any type of tax benefits or anything and refurbishments or any other incentives that you have in being able to protect that building?

(Kristen Brown) Sure, absolutely.

So a lot of the incentives are based at the local level because a local government can incorporate into their historic preservation ordinance certain incentives for those designated local resources.

Common types of incentives that we see are things like property tax freezes or maybe a revolving loan program or a facade grant program.

But then there are some benefits to being designated in the National Register of Historic Places as well, particularly for commercial buildings.

So there's a federal tax credit for rehabilitating properties that are income-producing and that are located in historic districts or that are individually listed in the National Register.

So that is a valuable tax credit that can be applied toward most of the funds that you spend rehabilitating that historic building.

So it can sometimes mean the difference between a rehab project penciling and not penciling.

And we do have-- you know, my office is available to help any property owner that's interested in pursuing that federal tax credit.

And an important thing to think about when we consider a historic commercial corridor like Fremont Street, for example, is that the most efficient way to let that benefit be available to the greatest number of buildings, the most efficient way to do that is by designating a historic district instead of just an individual building here or there.

The reason for that is you have a historic district and every building located within that district, that's considered a contributing resource; every building of that kind is immediately considered listed in the National Register.

There's no difference from being individually listed versus being part of a historic district.

So if you have a district with 50 resources and 30 of them are considered contributing resources, well, those 30 might be eligible for that tax credit.

So that's kind of an efficient way that can be-- that kind of planning can be incorporated into a long-term plan for how to maybe accomplish some of those things.

-Heidi, I have to come to you.

We're talking specifically about a district, and let's talk about that east side of Fremont Street.

So many of the Tony Hsieh, now Tony Hsieh family-owned properties, word is they are going to be sold; $350 million Tony Hsieh put into a lot of the hotels and structures along Fremont Street in this Downtown area, 100 properties potentially being sold.

Is this a direction that we might-- you know, we could potentially see viable about having an entire district that is protected?

-I think that the most important first step is the City of Las Vegas has had a survey done of the motor courts in Downtown Las Vegas, so taking a look at the results of that survey to look at the possibility of a district.

I know that, you know, you look at places like Palm Springs, that's the only other place I can think of that has the collection of that large a number of these mid 20th-century motor courts.

So I believe there's a lot of potential in Las Vegas to really take those motor courts and think about them creatively and to, you know, again, going back to the Ferguson model, these don't necessarily have to be motor courts again.

They could be re-envisioned to be something else.

I think that's one of the things that historic preservation isn't-- this part of historic preservation isn't really seen by a lot of folks, that really we're here to help you rethink that building and figure out what it is that your community needs out of a building and how we can find the path to get that piece, that building that you know and you love and maybe doesn't function the way you need it to now, to get it to be reused in a way that serves the community.

I think that's one of the great things that we've seen with some of the successes that have happened in historic preservation in Las Vegas, and we have such a potential to do so many more great projects, especially on that Fremont Street corridor.

-Cynthia, I want to get your take on this too, and we'll use Ferguson's as an example here, that old motor court motel that has been refurbished and repurposed into storefronts and retail.

Look right next door, a couple blocks-- a couple doors down we've got the Traveler's Motel, another Tony Hsieh-owned property that is similar here.

Is this a good direction to go from your perspective on a way to restore and refurbish some of these buildings and then repurpose them for something else?

-Absolutely.

Ferguson's is really brilliant because of the creative way of repurposing the pool and integrating a performance space and in utilizing and bringing in small business and retail in just really an innovative way, giving this building and the site a new life, and that we also have to think about, the site and not necessarily the building, and how you reuse the parcel.

-Well, another neighborhood we want to talk to and shift our conversation to is the Historic Westside, another area that is going through significant renovation and redevelopment right now.

Our Nevada Week team had the opportunity to go and speak to City Councilman Cedric Crear of Ward 5 to get a better understanding of the efforts with the redevelopment and refurbishment, but also that balance between preserving history and still embracing the future.

Let's take a look at that clip.

♪♪♪ A city's historic resources, its long-treasured buildings and sites provide a sense of place.

They depict community, character and pride and teach important lessons.

(Cedric Crear) The first step of any preservation of history is that you have to know where you've been in order for you to know where you're going.

On Las Vegas' Historic Westside, preserving the past has become part of the plan for the future.

Well, the Hundred Plan stands for the Historic Urban Neighborhood Redevelopment Plan, and it was a plan that was executed over a two-year period.

Now we have the Hundred Plan in action, which identifies what we're doing, how we're going to do it, when we're going to do it, and there's a lot of different aspects of that: Workforce development with our Ward 5 Works Initiative that we started, and we just opened up our Strong Future Technology Center with the Cox Innovation Center happening there.

Phase two will be with CSN where we're going to round out our manufacturing, trade, construction training facility in conjunction with CSN.

We're looking to build an African American museum which will highlight all of the history from our community with a performing arts center.

We're looking to bring a holistic healthcare center there, and we also have the Westside Legacy Park, which is under construction now, which is going to honor many of our leaders that paved the way for all of us to be where we are today.

Councilman Crear says the Hundred Plan in action is moving forward at "government lightning speed."

I think the Historic Westside will become a must-see attraction for people that come into our community.

I think it'll be a place of pride and continue to be a place of pride for people that live there and that have lived there like myself.

I was born and raised in the community.

I still live in the community.

I live in the house that I grew up in.

I take a lot of pride in my community.

Las Vegas' Historic Westside will soon serve as an example of how to seamlessly blend the past and present while looking to the future.

For Nevada Week, I'm Heather Caputo.

Thank you, Heather, we appreciate that.

Councilman Crear said there, "government light speed," but we are talking a lot about the future and a future that's coming right around the corner.

Our second big discussion topic here is how do you then balance the growth, the regrowth and redevelopment in an area like the Historic Westside, branded Historic Westside, and of course still embrace that history and be able to preserve that history.

Diane, I want to go to you first, and let's talk about maybe the balance also with neighborhood revitalization, such a big part of a lot of what Councilman Crear is talking about there.

How does historic preservation fit into this larger revitalization conversation?

-Right.

Well, thank you, and that is one thing that some of my colleagues are also working with Councilman Crear on as far as looking at revitalizing the Historic Westside but maintaining its character.

That is don't put up, you know, a glass and steel high-rise next to the Westside School, which is historically listed; making sure that we are listening to the community and we're listening to the neighbors of what they envision and what they want but still trying to bring in that economic development that's going to revitalize an area that is quite honestly depressed right now.

Also, I do want to point out that there's a bit of a misnomer when people refer to it as the Historic Westside because people think it's already protected, but unfortunately it's not.

There's only the Westside School, the site where the Moulin Rouge sat, the Berkley Square Historic District, and Harrison Boarding House are all listed on our local register and they are protected, but none of the rest of the area is.

So our push is right now to get out into the community, start talking with everybody about doing a district listing.

The bit of a stumbling block on that is you have to have 51% of the property owners that have given consent to that, so these are the types of things that we're looking at to say look, we want to help you.

We want to put this as a district listing, this is how you go about it, but we need that community buy-in.

-Kristen, I want to come to you.

The viability of being able to protect this district per what you were talking before about what some of the restrictions or guidelines are here, 50% consent sounds like a lot.

Do we have another example or reference point within the state maybe where we've been able to do this type of work?

Also, what's your perspective on if we could actually see the Westide become one of these protected districts.

-I can't think of an example for you where there was that exact problem.

We certainly have many examples of historic districts that are listed in the National Register in the state, and some of them are residential and some of them are commercial and some of them, like this Westside area, are a blend of commercial and residential, but I'd have to do some digging to see if we had an issue with consent.

I think that idea of owner consent is really a public outreach and education issue.

A lot of people have a misconception that being listed in the National Register for example has some kind of restrictions on what you can and cannot do to your property, and that's simply not the case.

The National Register is primarily an honorary listing but, in turn, it can actually help you achieve and qualify for certain opportunities that you might not otherwise be able to.

And the local listing, as Diane mentioned, does have a level of protection and can trigger some kind of design reviews at the City level, but those are designed to be flexible.

Those are designed to allow a property owner to improve their property and to be able to make upgrades as needed, and even sometimes to build a small addition or to change something about their building.

So it doesn't have to necessarily be a scary idea.

You can embrace all the benefits that come with that listing while still being able to work with the process to accomplish your goals for your residence.

I'm sorry, can you repeat the second part of that question?

-That's okay, you actually answered it.

Heidi, I want to go to you and talk specifically about state legislation related to this and maybe some policy shifts, again particularly looking at how we could protect the Westside in addition to this district conversation that we're having.

You were an assembly member for a long time in addition to extensive experience in historic preservation in our state, and now you have a lot more diverse experience in other states with historic preservation also.

Give us an idea of maybe some things that our legislature could be doing here.

-So I would say one of the things we could do that doesn't necessarily target to a historic district but more is generally aimed at commercial properties is to have a historic tax credit at the state level.

So Kristen talked a bit about the federal historic tax credit, but Nevada is one of a minority number of states that doesn't have its own state-level historic tax credit that would pair with the federal tax credit.

So I'm currently working in Minnesota that does have a state historic tax credit that was instituted in 2010, and one of the things that they saw when they instituted that was just a large number of buildings being saved and being revitalized in part because of the tax credit.

So I think one of the things that Nevada could contemplate would be to put in even a modest state historic tax credit, let's say had a cap on it, to give it a try and see how it would go.

But I think they would see that all of those, going again back since you brought up Fremont Street, all of those motor court hotels.

If they were part of a district and they could immediately get basically about a 40% tax credit back on projects, if they had a state and a federal historic tax credit, that could help underwrite those costs and I think we would not see as many vacant buildings.

I can list off a lot of them in Downtown Las Vegas.

There's so many buildings that we see with chainlink fence around them, and I don't think you would see as many.

I think that they would get reused.

-Cynthia, I want to go to you and talk a little bit about the Westside and again some of the work that the Nevada Preservation Foundation is doing.

A lot of homes there that are also boarded up that could potentially be refurbished.

There's a grant program related to that, it was mentioned in the Hundred Plan that Councilman Crear mentioned there.

Talk a little bit about that and kind of the importance of preserving some of the residences in an area like the Westside.

-We're in a unique position here being in the Historic Westside and discussing historic tax credits and historic districts, but we also have to consider the demographics, the income demographics, of being in the neighborhood in this area, and we have the opportunity to be creative and offer a path to affordable opportunities, preserving the place but also preserving-- the housing stock is going to be something that allows the area to maintain its identity.

-Very important, Cynthia, and I'm sorry, you're breaking up there a little bit but I think I caught most of what you said.

I want to talk a little bit more specifically about the equity conversation here, particularly in a neighborhood as you mentioned, predominantly low-income and historically of course a black African American neighborhood that has transitioned to black African American and Hispanic neighborhood now.

Diane, I want to come to you and talk specifically about this equity conversation and how historic preservation not only in preserving maybe some of these homes, but again preserving the neighborhood's integrity is related to kind of this equity, larger conversation that we're having.

-Well first of all, not only is it a historically African American neighborhood, I mean, it's where Las Vegas started in its non-indigenous form, and 1905 in that area the railroad came through, and Las Vegas was incorporated.

So it has a very rich history, and people feel a sense of place to that rich history.

It's important that we recognize that, and how do we recognize that to bring in some of the economic development.

During the 1950s, there were barber shops which have a huge cultural significance to the African American community.

Is there a way to revitalize that type of those structures?

Also, there is the sense of place to a lot of the religious buildings that are on the Westside.

So looking at how does that community feel the sense of connection to the Westside, and what can be done to help them revive that and profit off of it so this area does, you know, become revitalized and be the heyday as it was really in the '50s.

-Well thank you, as always, for joining us this week on Nevada Week.

Now, for any of the resources discussed on this show, please visit our website at vegaspbs.org/nevada-week.

You can also always find us on social media at @nevadaweek.

Thanks again, and we'll see you next week.

♪♪♪