I made an easement donation to the TEA and they were a pleasure to work with.
First of all TEA is not just about “easements only”. In New York they have provided grants and resources for a number of community support projects to further their cause – which is historic architectural preservation.
Here is just a few of the projects that I know of:
* Horatio Street Cobblestone Restoration,
* Bond Street Cobblestone Restoration,
* Removal & Replacement of Modern Cobra Head Lamps with Historic Bishops Crook Lamps in Greenwich Village.
* Canal Park Beautification,
* Bogardus Park Beautification,
* NYC Parks Department Monument and Statue Restoration,
* Downtown Alliance “Third Thursday Lecture Series”,
*Paid for the Printing Costs of HDC Book: CREATING AN HISTORIC DISTRICT: A GUIDE FOR NEIGHBORHOODS,
* Gave a grant to support a HDC Preservation Lecture Series,
* Friends Seminar School Architectural Curriculum,
* Friends of The Highline Architectural Curriculum,
* Open House New York Architectural Curriculum,
* Museum of Modern Art Architectural Curriculum,
* Art Deco Society of New York grant
Clearly TEA is an active and genuine group of preservationists that remain involved in many other preservation initiatives that have nothing to do with easements.
To suggest that the TEA encourages inflated easement appraisals is silly.
First of all; a third party qualified appraiser is hired by the donor to determine the value of the easement. Thereafter, the appraisal is doubled checked by a fourth party qualified appraiser to make sure the easement is in compliance with the IRS regulations. Do you think any appraiser is going to risk losing his license by over inflating an appraisal for any one donor?
The cash donation is used to fund the monitoring and enforcement of the easement for the rest of time. It is an endowment. The IRS requires that the easement holding organization have the resources to monitor and enforce the easement. The amount of the cash donation is not tied to the easements value. The amount requested is based on the physical size of the property, and the liability associated with monitoring and enforcing the easement forever. Further more, TEA was flexible with me and we came to a mutually acceptable figure. The whole process was voluntary and enjoyable.
I am really shocked at all the misinformation and dumping going on in this the forum by a couple of misinformed people.
I made an easement donation to the TEA and they were a pleasure to work with.
First of all TEA is not just about “easements only”. In New York they have provided grants and resources for a number of community support projects to further their cause – which is historic architectural preservation.
Here is just a few of the projects that I know of:
* Horatio Street Cobblestone Restoration,
* Bond Street Cobblestone Restoration,
* Removal & Replacement of Modern Cobra Head Lamps with Historic Bishops Crook Lamps in Greenwich Village.
* Canal Park Beautification,
* Bogardus Park Beautification,
* NYC Parks Department Monument and Statue Restoration,
* Downtown Alliance “Third Thursday Lecture Series”,
*Paid for the Printing Costs of HDC Book: CREATING AN HISTORIC DISTRICT: A GUIDE FOR NEIGHBORHOODS,
* Gave a grant to support a HDC Preservation Lecture Series,
* Friends Seminar School Architectural Curriculum,
* Friends of The Highline Architectural Curriculum,
* Open House New York Architectural Curriculum,
* Museum of Modern Art Architectural Curriculum,
* Art Deco Society of New York grant
Clearly TEA is an active and genuine group of preservationists that remain involved in many other preservation initiatives that have nothing to do with easements.
To suggest that the TEA encourages inflated easement appraisals is silly.
First of all; a third party qualified appraiser is hired by the donor to determine the value of the easement. Thereafter, the appraisal is doubled checked by a fourth party qualified appraiser to make sure the easement is in compliance with the IRS regulations. Do you think any appraiser is going to risk losing his license by over inflating an appraisal for any one donor?
The cash donation is used to fund the monitoring and enforcement of the easement for the rest of time. It is an endowment. The IRS requires that the easement holding organization have the resources to monitor and enforce the easement. The amount of the cash donation is not tied to the easements value. The amount requested is based on the physical size of the property, and the liability associated with monitoring and enforcing the easement forever. Further more, TEA was flexible with me and we came to a mutually acceptable figure. The whole process was voluntary and enjoyable.
I am really shocked at all the misinformation and dumping going on in this the forum by a couple of misinformed people.
Posted by: Chip_Dilbeck at September 9, 2007 11:20 PM in response to Facade Easements: Worth the Risk of Audit?