News Release

Stuyvesant Hall Project Receives $4.2 Million Historic Preservation Tax Credit
Ohio Department of Development Award Recognizes Significance of Ohio Wesleyan Residence Hall Renovation

July 28, 2011

Image by Schooley Caldwell Associates of Columbus

According to the Ohio Department of Development, the historic preservation tax credit program provides tax credits equal to 25 percent of qualified rehabilitation expenditures. The Ohio Historic Preservation Office of the Ohio Historical Society determines whether a property qualifies as a historic building and verifies that the rehabilitation plan and work comply with the U.S. Secretary of the Interior’s standards for rehabilitation.

Ohio Wesleyan’s Stuyvesant Hall project began in May and is scheduled for completion in August 2012. The work will fully renovate and restore the building, which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. The project will transform 74,000 square feet, including:

• Incorporating energy-efficient heating, cooling, and lighting systems to provide a comfortable, yet environmentally conscious living environment.
• Adding a new south entrance, courtyard terrace, and coffee bar to create a welcoming environment for students and guests.
• Providing new and improved space for the Mary Hanlon Moore Health Center.
• Enhancing the “Stuy Smoker” common area and the Willa B. Player Center Black Resource Center to provide desirable common areas for students to live and learn.
• Reconfiguring bathrooms to provide more privacy and space.
• Restoring the building’s bell tower and chimes.

“This is a wonderful moment for Ohio Wesleyan and for Delaware,” said OWU President Rock Jones, Ph.D. “With its unique floor plan, Stuyvesant Hall became a model for residence halls across the country when it opened in 1931, and we believe this renovation will restore its status as one of the premier student residence halls in America.”

The tax credit is based on the economic impact of the $15 million renovation, plus the property value and other components. Overall, the Ohio Department of Development states the Stuyvesant Hall project will create 179 jobs and have a total value of $26.8 million.

To date, six rounds of Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credits have been approved for 118 applicants in 28 cities, totaling $265 million. The program is projected to leverage $1.5 billion in private redevelopment funding and federal tax credits. A total of 35 projects have been completed, representing $408 million in total project investments, which created 2,940 construction jobs and housed 5,453 permanent jobs.

Learn more about Ohio Wesleyan’s Stuyvesant Hall project.

Learn more about the Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit program.

Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities, with more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. Located in Delaware, Ohio, just minutes north of Ohio’s capital and largest city, Columbus, the university combines a globally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that translate classroom theory into real-world practice. OWU’s close-knit community of 1,850 students represents 45 states and 52 countries. Ohio Wesleyan was named to the 2010 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with distinction, is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” and is included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.