The Michigan Historic Preservation Network (MHPN) recognized Richard Karp of Karp and Associates and Kevin Prater, of Prater Development Ltd., for successfully using tax credits to achieve the $8 million renovation of the Arbaugh building in Downtown Lansing.
Originally constructed in 1915, the Arbaugh is often considered the building that launched the revitalization of DowntownLansing. Karp and Prater used $2 million in state and federal tax credits to gut the building, which was shuttered in 2005.
“Without any of those credits, the project wouldn’t have been feasible,” Karp says.
The MHPN gave Karp and Prater the Tax Credit Award for using federal historical tax preservation credits, market tax credits, a community development block grant from 
the City of Lansing and other grants and loans.
“This is an historical preservation industry award and it’s the ultimate peer recognition in our field,” Karp says. “We’re very honored.”
Karp acknowledges that many people credit the Arbaugh’s rebirth as the turning point for Downtown Lansing, which used to be a nine-to-five town.
“We really didn’t see that much risk,” Karp says about being the first developer to take a chance in DowntownLansing. “We saw a large pool of Cooley students that had almost no housing options in Downtown.”
Situated on the corner of Kalamazoo Street and Washington Square in Downtown Lansing, the Arbaugh is 100 percent full.
“It’s unlikely that the Arbaugh project wouldhave happened without the preservation tax credits and these other credits,” Karp says, reiterating that tax credits and grants are integral to rehabbing old buildings.
Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.
All Photographs © Dave Trumpie
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