Efforts to renovate the Melba Theatre in downtown Houston received a big boost this week with a $350,000 award of state tax credits.
The Missouri Department of Economic Development presented Downtown Houston Inc., a not-for profit organization that has led other community projects, the funds under the Neighborhood Assistance Program.
The project includes the Melba and commercial buildings on each side of it on Grand Avenue. A purchase agreement has been reached with representatives of the trust of Kathleen Kelly Fiquet, who own the buildings. Fiquet was the daughter of Bessie Kelly Womack Herrington, who constructed the movie house that opened in February 1938 and continued to be a social hub for generations. It has been idle since 1980.
The organization late last year submitted a thick application that detailed construction and remodeling plans, a business operating strategy and pledges of supports from numerous businesses and organizations.
The award was among three in Missouri. The others went to organizations in Camdenton and Vandalia. The Houston application received the maximum allocation allowed.
The state’s acceptance of the plan means Downtown Houston now can solicit funds that give donors generous tax breaks. For example, a dollar from an eligible donor generates 70 cents of state tax credit and also is deductible on federal returns. For someone paying at the 28 percent federal rate, the actual cost is about $2 for each $100 contributed.
Businesses can donate cash, materials, supplies or equipment; technical assistance and professional services; labor; real estate; or stocks or bonds. Individuals who operate a sole proprietorship, operate a farm, have rental property or have royalty income also are eligible.
The same financing method was used by Downtown Houston Inc. for development of the Lone Star Plaza after a devastating fire and a major rehabilitation of the former Haney Market that is today the Houston Visitors Center. The City of Houston later obtained grant funding that brought new lighting and sidewalks to the downtown business district.
The Melba project involves several entities that have expressed interest in staging shows and other events, as well as meetings. It will seat about 300. The Houston School District also does not have a stage for its students.
A second component also is a part of the tax credit application. Downtown Houston Inc. owns a building on Main Street north of the Lone Star Plaza that also will get a facelift.
The project includes refrigeration and storage space for the nearby farmers market, public restrooms, accommodations for the Houston Friends of the Library book store and meeting space. The building will become the Lone Star Plaza Annex and will include a copper awning that complements the canopy used by the farmers market.
An application through the Rural Development, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, also is pending for assistance on the farmers market component.