Historic Preservation Incentives & Grants

Qualified expenses rehabilitation projects that meet the requirements are subtracted from the property assessment each year for ten years. Property taxes are still paid on the balance. In some cases, a project’s costs may exceed the assessed value of the property for several years. This will negate property taxes.

This special valuation of the property offsets potential increases in taxes caused by building improvements and helps owners regain their investment. Special Valuation may be applied for repeatedly as long as the requirements are met and the qualified expenditures do not exceed the assessed value of the property.

Expenses claimed must associated with the historic rehabilitation and must occur within a building’s original envelope. Additional requirements include:

• Property must be listed on the Tacoma Register of Historic Places.
• Rehabilitation costs must equal at least 25% of the assessed value of the building prior to renovation.
• All project costs must fall within a working period of 24 consecutive months.
• Qualifying rehabilitation expenditures include the costs associated with design, materials, and construction necessary to bring a building to a state of modern convenience. This excludes costs associated with acquisition of the property or for work to expand the building’s size.
• The project must meet the Secretary of Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation of Historic Buildings.
• Renovations must not adversely affect the building’s historically significant character defining elements.

Buildings in historic districts are usually eligible. Historic properties not already listed on the Tacoma Register of Historic Places can be placed on the Tacoma Register though a nomination and review process.

In general, projects must be related to the history of Tacoma or Tacoma’s cultural or historic resources, be located within Tacoma City Limits, and be accessible to all audiences.

Eligibility

Applicants must generally have their offices or primary location of activities within the Tacoma city limits. The following organizations are eligible for the Heritage Grant Program:

• Private non-profits with any 501(c) designation.
• Organized group of community volunteers (for example, a business district or neighborhood council with an advisory body, business license, and organizational bank account.) Submissions must come from an organization.
• Public agencies and educational institutions.

Criteria

• Historic importance or significance of the subject matter (10 points)
• Level of community impact (10 points)
• General quality of the proposal (5 points)
• Organizational commitment to history and heritage (5 points)
• Demonstrated ability to execute and complete the project (5 points)

Funding Details

• Applicants can apply for anywhere between $1,000 and $10,000 for their project. Actual amounts will be based upon the availability of funds and review of each application as measured against the evaluation criteria detailed in these guidelines.
• Applicants must employ a variety of revenue sources to fund their project.
• Applicant must match Heritage Projects funding at least 1:1 with other sources of cash or in-kind support. Taxing authorities, schools, and school-based auxiliary organizations must match Heritage Projects funding at least 1:1 with other sources of cash.
• A broad funding base indicates both community support for, and the financial stability of, the project and organization.
• Money will be reimbursed to the applicant following the execution of a contract for services to the City and the completion of the funded project per the contract terms. Recipients (contractors) must be prepared to cover the costs of the program until that time.

Past Award Recipients

In 2023, the Landmarks Preservation Commission awarded approximately $40,000 in Heritage Project Grant funding to the following 6 organizations:

• Foss Waterway Seaport: $5,000 for development of a new exhibit on a traditional Croatian fishing skiff, known as a batana
• Metro Parks Tacoma: $10,000 for educational programs highlighting the relationship between Japanese culture and Tacoma’s gardens at Point Defiance, particularly during the 2024 Flower and Garden Festival
• University of Washington/Tacoma: $2,500 to finish and promote a digital exhibit on the history of Tacoma’s Japantown
• HistoryLink: $3,547 for new articles on Tacoma history
• Washington State Historical Society: $10,000 for educational programming highlighting the 50th anniversary of the Boldt Decision
• Tacoma Public Library Northwest Room: $8,100 for digitizing moving images and audio from existing collections, in order to make these materials accessible

In 2021, the Landmarks Preservation Commission awarded approximately $50,000 in Heritage Project Grant funding to the following 11 organizations:

• Fort Nisqually Foundation: $2,785 for Indigenous Voices podcast and virtual panel discussion series hosted by Fort Nisqually Living History Museum
• Asia Pacific Cultural Center: $9,500 for Tacoma Heritage: Asia Pacific Profile, highlighting the stories and lives of notable Asian Pacific people from Tacoma’s past and present
• Tacoma City Association of Colored Women’s Clubs: $6,500 for historic documentation and public engagement regarding the Nettie Asberry Homesite
• Foss Waterway Seaport: $3,500 for the Salmon in the Classroom program, which partnered with Tacoma Public Schools and the Puyallup Tribe to educate students on the significance of salmon
• Downtown on the Go: $3,000 for Walk Tacoma, a five event walking series that covers different topics of culture and history in Tacoma
• MetroParks Tacoma: $9,500 for creation of an oral history audio component to accompany the public art in Dickman Mill Park (Ghost Timbre installation)
• Sister Cities Council of Tacoma/Pierce County: $2,500 for an exhibit to showcase Tacoma’s 14 Sister Cities around the world
• HistoryLink: $4,000 for new articles on Tacoma history
• Job Carr Cabin Museum: $2,000 for assessing, cataloging, and exhibiting a collection of Job Carr family archival material
• Tacoma Public Library Northwest Room: $3,500 for the preservation and organization of Murray Morgan’s historic research collection
• Friends of Cushman Substation: $1,000 for a bronze National Register of Historic Places landmark plaque for the Adam Street Substation

In 2018, the Landmarks Preservation Commission awarded $40,000 in Heritage Project Grant funding to the following nine organizations:

• Downtown on the Go: $2,000 for three walking tours that focus on Tacoma’s history.
• Fort Nisqually Foundation: $5,000 for a special exhibit and permanent signage to highlight agricultural history related to the Fort.
• Historic Tacoma: $3,000 for the redesign of the Historic Tacoma website.
• HistoryLink.org: $3,925 for the development of twelve articles that focus on the diverse and significant people in Tacoma’s history.
• Job Carr Cabin Museum: $1,500 for the annual Pioneer Days Festival, which highlights Job Carr and Tacoma’s pioneer history.
• Knights of Pythias: $3,000 for the acquisition of equipment to create a digitized and searchable archive of Knights of Pythias artifacts and documents.
• Pierce Conservation District: $7,500 for interpretive materials for three of Tacoma’s community gardens highlighting diverse agricultural history.
• Points Northeast Historical Society: $4,500 to conduct a historic structures report to guide the restoration of the Browns Point Light Station.
• Tacoma Historical Society: $10,000 for the development and installation of an exhibit on “1918: A Year of Destiny” and outreach inspired by the 1918 Liberty Bond drives.

In 2016, the Landmarks Preservation Commission awarded $50,000 in Heritage Project Grant funding to the following eight Tacoma organizations:

• Fort Nisqually Foundation: Awarded $3,900 for the “Saving Fort Nisqually” exhibit that illustrates the significance of the preservation and relocation of the Fort’s historic buildings.
• Job Carr Cabin Museum: Awarded $1,250 for the annual Pioneer Days Festival, which highlights Job Carr and Tacoma’s pioneer history.
• Buffalo Soldiers Museum: Awarded $5,000 for the “Honoring the Past and Embracing the Future” event to increase awareness of the Buffalo Soldiers and Tuskegee Airmen, as well as honor Pierce County’s military history.
• Urban Grace Church: Awarded $4,050 for a Historic Structures Report, by Artifacts Consulting, to guide future upgrades and maintenance decisions.
• Tacoma Historical Society: Awarded $14,737 for the development and installation of three exhibits: “Mapping Tacoma,” “Tacoma’s Dry Goods and Wet Goods: Nineteenth Century Jewish Pioneers,” and “City of Creation”— and a companion book on Tacoma’s Jewish history.
• Northwest Leadership Foundation: Awarded $5,176 for the development of the “Tacoma Back Stage Pass”, a bus tour of historical sites related to social justice in Tacoma.
• Foss Waterway Seaport: Awarded $13,887 for the development and installation of new exhibit, “First Navigators: Native Americans of the South Sound Waterfront,” focusing on the life of the Puyallup People along the waterfront.
• Shanaman Sports Museum: Awarded $2,000 for the transferring of archival material into an online Sports Museum Flipbook.

The Historic Rehabilitation and Repair Loan Program (HRRLP) is administered by the Tacoma Community Redevelopment Authority (TCRA) and staffed by the City’s Community and Economic Development.

Loans are made available on a reimbursement basis up to 50% of the approved project costs.

Minimum Loan Amount – $20,000
Maximum Loan Amount – $100,000

Loans carry an interest rate equal to the ten-year U.S. Treasury Note plus 100 basis points (1%) with principal and interest payments due monthly for a maximum term of ten years.

• Property must be a commercial or mixed-use building that is listed on the Tacoma Register of Historic Places.
• Business tenants must have a lease term equal to the proposed loan term and must have owner consent.
• Work must be approved by the Historic Preservation Officer.

As the property owner, you decide to transfer development rights, meet with staff, then submit an application for issuance of development rights. Sending site criteria can be found in TMC1.37.

Please contact our Applications Services staff at appservices@tacoma.gov for help determining sending site eligibility and a description of the procedures.

• TDRs may not be sold until a conservation easement is in place.
• The transferable floor area from Tacoma-designated landmarks shall be the maximum square feet of floor area achievable within the area’s zoning and other applicable codes minus the floor area of the designated landmark.
• The sending building must be on the Tacoma Register of Historic Places.