Interview with Kimberly Smith Barnett

Kim Smith Barnett is a manager at Ryan LLC, a company working on historic tax credit projects located in New England and New York. She has more than 20 years of experience as a historic preservation professional, specializing in historic tax credit consulting, historic real estate development finance, and non-profit finance. Kim has spent much of her professional career working in Providence’s low-mod income historic districts. She began in 2001, working with the West Broadway Neighborhood Association (WBNA) to increase the boundaries of the Armory historic district, and created an action plan for neighborhood revitalization. From 2002-2018, Kim was at Providence Revolving Fund (PRF). During hertime there, she worked on more than 150 historic tax credit projects, helped develop and sell over a dozen historic properties, and was responsible for PRF’s $12.8 million capital pool. Kim performed loan originations, underwriting, closed over $35 million in new loans and serviced the loan portfolio.

1. How did you first become interested in historic preservation?

While living in Providence in the 90’s, I fell in love with the Brown and Sharpe Mill Complex (otherwise known as the Foundry Complex). At the time I was finishing my B.A. in Psychology and was intending to get a degree in Biopsychology next. One day, I noticed workers boarding up the windows on Building 5. The north elevation of that building is breathtaking. Hoping they were not going to demolish it, I returned that weekend with my SLR camera to document what I could. As I was photographing the exterior of a building, one of the workers came over and asked me if I was an architect. Little did I know that this stranger was about to change my life. I told him it was my favorite building in the world, and I wanted to document whatever I could. At that point, he said, “Would you like to go inside”? My jaw dropped and I quickly said yes. This stranger escorted me to the top floor of the building and I proceeded to take photos of its raw, empty condition – photos I treasure to this day. The rush I got from going inside this building really opened my eyes. I was not sure at that point what I could do with a degree in historic preservation, but I did a little research and found that right in my backyard Roger Williams University had a degree program in historic preservation. That’s how it all began -with a stranger changing the course of my career. In 2002, Building 5 was my first historic tax credit project, and today, my office is in the Foundry Building 1. Full circle moments!

2. You've spent much of your career working in Providence's low and moderate income historic districts. People often think of historic preservation as elitist. Tell us how preservation benefits the residents of these neighborhoods?

That’s a common perception I’ve heard throughout the years, but it has not been my experience. My time at Providence Revolving Fund (PRF) opened my eyes (2002-2018). At the time, PRF was focused on providing resources for homeowners in low-mid income census tracts that were also historic districts. PRF prepared construction specifications for homeowners, bid out the jobs, assisted the homeowner with choosing a contractor, and lent them the funds to complete the renovation at interest rates and payments that they could afford. After the project was done, we serviced the loans in house. These folks let us become part of their community. When a vacant property was bringing down the neighborhood, PRF would use resources to tackle the property ourselves. PRF bought the worst of the worst, fixed them up, and then sold to low-mod income homebuyers or designated affordable rental units in the property. Over time, the combined efforts of the homeowners investing in their beautiful historic properties and PRF (and others) tackling the tough properties brought the whole neighborhood up. Nearly every house we developed had affordable deed restrictions on it. One of our early developments on Whitmarsh Street had been owned by the same family for over 20 years. When they were ready to downsize, they came back to us and asked us to buy it from them. They wanted another family to have the same opportunity they did.

3. What tools have been successful in accelerating preservation and restoration efforts in these communities?

In Providence, we had a special partnership. Three things were going on at once. The homeowners took a chance and made investments to their properties using the tools that were available to them. At the same time, there were numerous non-profit and for-profit developers (PRF, WBNA, Armory Revival Company, to name a few) working to tackle the bigger preservation problems, using talented contractors who mostly lived in the same neighborhoods. Thirdly, the City worked closely with all of us to share the resources they had. Utilizing the state and federal historic tax credit programs where appropriate was also part of the equation. Different communities have varying needs. It takes a multi-faceted approach by each stakeholder in the community to be successful at preserving their neighborhoods.

4. Currently, you work as a Historic Tax Credit Consultant with Ryan, LLC. Tell us why this program is so critical to making rehab projects possible?

Simply put, the historic tax credit programs allow for difficult projects to work. If tax credits didn’t exist, few projects would pencil out, from a financial perspective. When a property that has been vacant for 20 or 30 years is revitalized in part because of the state and federal historic tax credit program – the effect on the surrounding neighborhood is transformative. I only get to play a small part in returning our treasured buildings back to active use, but there is nothing more satisfying than driving by them once the work is completed and seeing the lights on at night.

5. As you know, Preserve RI has called on state leaders to overhaul the State Historic Tax Credit program. Tell us what you've seen in the field—in terms of the competitiveness of Rhode Island compared to neighboring states?

Sadly, Rhode Island has not been able to keep up with its neighbors when it comes to incentivizing state historic tax credits. Annually, Massachusetts recently doubled their annual allocation from $55 million to $110 million. Connecticut allocates $31.7 million, and Maine has no annual cap at all on its program. Rhode Island’s tax credit program is nearly depleted. It most recently added funds to the program in FY22 ($20 million) and FY23 ($28 million). However, there are 54 projects waiting in line that would like to use the program – those project represent $467 million of investment stalled due to the lack of funding. In order for all of those projects to move forward, there would need to be $90 million dedicated to the state tax credit program. Even if RI allocated a smaller amount annually to the program, at least it would be a consistent source of funding that could be relied upon.