Preservation takes persistence, but it also takes money. Can you talk about how the financing for this project came together?
The Barton Restoration Committee became the Barton Academy Foundation in 2012. The estimate for renovating all the buildings on the property was about $20 million. While the Mobile County Public School System was willing to take on all aspects of operating the new facility, the Foundation was tasked with raising the funds for the capital improvements.
More than $5 million was raised through gifts from individuals, foundations, and corporations, a noteworthy achievement since there was a lot of community pushback on the idea of donating to a public school. I never really understood that because people give liberally to Auburn and Alabama and other public universities, but not generally to capital projects for K-12 public schools. The physical improvements that the school system made on the exterior in ‘14, ‘15 to ‘16 really motivated some donors.
The balance came from a complex financing structure using Federal and State Historic Tax Credits, Federal New Markets Tax Credits, and a $2 million Alabama Saves energy efficiency loan—the miracle of miracles. Shortly after the school opened, the state wanted to do away with the Alabama Saves program, and they just forgave the whole loan. So that was pretty awesome.
In May of 2020, we went to closing on the most complicated historic tax credit / new markets deal in the state’s history. The chart of organizations and corporations and how money flows will give you a headache to look at—but we got it done. And the construction started shortly thereafter.
