Masonry Magazine May 2012 Page. 26
CASE STUDY
REHABS AND RESTORATIONS
By Gregory Graze Photos courtesy of City of Lewisville
Facade Grants Turn Bricks into Gold in
Lewisville, Texas
The Texas city of Lewisville, located north of Dallas, has turned an investment of $400,000 in facade grants into a gain of $193 million in the city's tax base in roughly six years. Now, other North Texas cities are hoping to duplicate Lewisville's success, according to the Texas Masonry Council.
As part of a comprehensive development plan to revitalize the city's Old Town area, Lewisville (est. pop. 100,000) used hotel occupancy tax revenues to fund a three-year grant program (2004-2007). The program provided grants of up to $40,000 to help property owners in the Old Town Center area about 10-12 square blocks - restore old facades. The primary material used was masonry, mainly brick, due to the existing beautiful old brick buildings in the Old Town area.
The Old Town Center sits in the heart of the Old Town Design District, which encompasses about 300 acres. The city requires that building exteriors along its gateways including Main Street be 80 percent brick or stone. The facade grant required that building facades be restored to their original condition which was mainly brick masonry. The grants helped property owners comply with the masonry requirement.
With a budget of $400,000, the city funded 20 grant applications for Old Town Center. Three other applications were approved, but funding is not yet available. Largely as a result of this relatively small investment by the city, the property valuations of the Old Town Design District have risen from $67 million to $260 million and officials expect the valuations to continue rising for years to come, according to Nika Reinecke, Lewisville's director of Economic Development and Planning.
"We expected that real estate values would rise with new construction and redevelopment in the area. The use of brick and masonry makes the buildings timeless and low mainte-