I grew up in Imperial Beach, California, a low-profile beach town in San Diego, California.  The best days of my life were those wonderful summers when I would ride my bike to the beach, spend the day boogie boarding and then eat fish tacos at the fish shop at the end of the pier.  Now that I live in Coronado, I seldom visit but when I do, the smell of the fishermen bait surrounding the fish shop is the same, torrid,  smelly, and fishy. Imperial Beach is not a spectacular place to live but it is a very livable city.  It is not too far from the major attractions of San Diego like Balboa Park, the Zoo, Downtown and the malls of Mission Valley.  The beaches of Imperial Beach are just as lovely and welcoming as the rest of the beaches in San Diego and so are the sunsets.  I correct myself:  The sunsets are spectacular and there’s never too many of them.  Speaking of digesting, restaurants near the beach vary widely.  Yes, low-budget eats exist like Mexican taco shops but you can also find Thai, Greek, Italian and Chinese.  Being able to experience all these different types of food on a 13 year-old’s budget was like experiencing travel around the world on my bike.

In my research regarding the Mills Act, I discovered that California has an office which administers programs for historical buildings, the Office of Historic Preservation or OHP. The OHP’s mission is to promote the preservation of California’s cultural heritage.  The Mills Act is one significant tax relief available to owners of historic properties, however, the federal government also has a tax incentive program: The Federal Rehabilitation Tax Credit Program. The OHP administers the 20% Federal Rehabilitation Tax Credit Program for California in partnership with the National Park Service according to federal regulations.  OHP acts on behalf of the National Park Service as the initial reviewer to determine if projects submitted for  preservation tax credits conform to the Secretary of the Interior’s standards for rehabilitation.  In the Federal Fiscal Year 2010, the National Park Service approved 951 projects nationwide which represented an estimated investment of $3.42 billion.  According the OHP, the second highest in program history! Why?  Because restoring historical properties has proven to be a cost-effective tool for revitalizing communities and preserving historic places that give communities their special character.  The incentives reward private investment in the rehabilitation of historic properties.  I’ll continue my research further into these programs and relate my findings in another post.

Recently, I attended the open house at 744 “B” Avenue, located in the Coronado Village hosted by Dino and Cheryl Morabito of The Morabito Group.  The home is currently listed for sale with Real Living Napolitano Real Estate by The Morabito Group. The home is a 1911 build “Winchester” cottage and has been featured in many publications including, most recently, Better Homes & Gardens.  This home, like few in Coronado, is a “Mills Act Funded” property, meaning not only does it qualify for a significant property tax savings, but it is already receiving the tax savings. In my opinion, this is a major selling point for this multi-million dollar property.  Any prospective purchaser for 744 B Avenue will know its annual property taxes which are not based on the sale price but on the assessor’s established Mills Act value.  The County Assessor’s office has a uses a unique formula to calculate the assessed value for these historic homes.   After seeing the exhaustive efforts the owners of 744 B went through to restore, remodel and completely upgrade their 1911 Craftsman home, it would appear only fitting that this property benefit from the tax savings provided by the Mills Act. A property such as 744 B adds to the historical landscape of Coronado, which our tourists truly enjoy and ultimately, grows and enriches our city’s community.  I will write about the conditions of keeping the Mills Act designation in another post.