Tax credits are available to restore areas of the parish, says Rep. Echols

The sleepy downtown streets of Ville Platte, Mamou, and other areas of Evangeline Parish are eligible for a wake up call if state and federal historic districts are created inside those areas.
That was the topic of discussion when State Representative Michael Echols addressed a group of civic and business leaders from Evangeline Parish at The Hatchery on Thursday, November 5.
Representative Echols, a Bastrop native, first got involved in historic preservation when he bought a historic home in Monroe that had to be completely gutted.
Since then, he began buying buildings in downtown Monroe.
“Downtown Monroe looks a lot like the rest of your rural small towns with boarded up buildings, historic fabric, and trees going through the roofs,” Representative Echols said. “I bought an old building for next to nothing. It was falling apart, but it was in a historic district. I did my first historic tax credit project not knowing what I was doing, but slowly and surely I fixed that first building.”
Representative Echols now owns 23 historic commercial buildings in downtown Monroe. “It all started with one handshake and one building that was 2,000 square feet that was falling apart with water leaking in a downtown where people asked why I was doing that and said I ought to just tear down and build something new,” he said. “It’s a big problem when we just tear these structures down.”
“He continued, “At the end of the day, you’re saving the fabric of your community. You’re crafting culture. You’re empowering the culture to be a bigger and brighter place.”
Representative Echols went on to say Ville Platte and Mamou have a phenomenal historic fabric and “it just needs a little love.” He added, “All it takes is one building on one block.”
He walked through the downtown areas of Ville Platte and Mamou with fellow legislator Representative Rhonda Butler and a historic preservation team from the state.
“When I look at the Ville Plattes of the world and the Mamous of the world,” he said, “y’all have something that is really unique down here. Between Fred’s Lounge, Mardi Gras, the festivals, the people, and the culture, people will pay good money for that kind of experience.”
Representative Echols continued, “When I walked the streets of Ville Platte, downtown Ville Platte still has the buildings and the personality. All it needs are the sidewalks and the lighting and to restore the buildings and then curate that stage. Put actors back into those buildings, and people will flock to your town very rapidly.”
He identified 25 historic structures in Mamou and eight to 10 blocks in Ville Platte that qualify as historic assets.
Those assets are eligible for a 20% state tax credit and a 20% federal tax credit if state and federal historic districts are established.
“If you spend $1 million on a restoration,” said Representative Echols, “that’s $200,000 in state tax credit and $200,000 in federal tax credit. It reduces your cost an average, on a $1 million project, to $600,000.”
Also present at The Hatchery was Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser who is proposing legislation to create three museum boards across the state. “I will support legislation to let these three boards hire their own director and run the museums as they see fit,” he said.
Much like with the tourism grants, the museums will then be eligible for at least $1 million a year in grants.
The lieutenant governor also advised a marketing team will be used to create a Website for the museums in the state. “We will video every museum in the state,” he said, “and there will be one marketing campaign where we will market every museum in the state and have a video on our site of all these incredible small museums around the state.”