A companion bill moving through the House would raise the annual cap to $20 million. The legislation was recently voted out of committee, moving it one step closer to passage.

Neither measure faces much opposition.

Paul Steinke, executive director of the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia, isn’t surprised about the bipartisan support. He said the state’s tax credit program is an economic engine, creating jobs and tax revenue as properties return to productive use.

He calls the program a “win-win” for “everyone who cares about the health and vitality of our cities and towns across the commonwealth.”

“If you take a vacant building that’s contributing little to nothing to the tax rolls and you fill it with residents or with offices or with businesses, retail or restaurants, the impact on those communities is immediate and can be transformative in terms of revitalizing small towns and big cities across the state,” Steinke said.

Advocates say the program also poses little financial risk to the state.

Under the program, developers who are awarded these tax credits do not receive the subsidy until the project is completed. The funding can still be used to leverage other financing, including the construction loans many developers rely on to complete these projects.

“And if the project doesn’t happen, the tax credit won’t go out,” said Crawford.

Developer David Waxman has applied for and received historic preservation tax credits for three projects in Philadelphia, including the $42 million revamp of a historic brewery.

The hulking brick building in Brewerytown dates back to 1870. It was used to make beer until Prohibition, and later became warehouse space before returning to its sudsy roots for a time.

The building remained vacant for nearly two decades when MMPartners acquired it in 2019.

“It was blighted, and another year or two of sitting it probably would have been beyond repair and torn down. And so then you would have had this gem that spoke to the history of the neighborhood gone and replaced with what we like to call spaceship buildings — these new build mid-rises with 10 materials on the facade and kind of built like crap,” Waxman said.

MMPartners transformed the dilapidated building into Poth Brewery Lofts, a mixed-use development with more than 100 apartments and 25,000 square feet of commercial space.

Two men are under arrest after allegedly forcing four females into a vehicle, imprisoning them in shipping containers and raping two of them in Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania State Police arrested Davaun Carlon Jackson, 29, and Isaiah Rogers-Keeney, 19, after they drove to a Walmart with two of the victims.

It all started with a shooting that the four females witnessed in Wilkes Barre on Monday, Pennsylvania State Police told WFMZ-TV. To keep them quiet, Jackson and Rogers-Keeney allegedly snatched them and drove them to property Jackson owned in Smithfield Township. There, they tied three of them up and locked them in the shipping container, raping two of them, authorities said. They were also threatened with death and dismemberment, WNEP-TV reported, being meanced with numerous weapons.

“There was a car chase, there were kidnappings, transportation to places of isolation, threats of murder, of mayhem and sexual assaults,” Monroe County District Attorney Michael Mancuso told WFMZ. “There was one minor there. The minor was 17 years old. The other ones were, the age range was I believe 18 to 21.”

On Tuesday, the men took them to another property of Jackson’s, where one of them was given her phone back, WFMZ reported. She was able to call her mother, who alerted police.

Jackson and Rogers-Keeney were arraigned Wednesday morning and denied bail, WNEP reported.

Jackson is charged with kidnapping, rape, sexual assault, terroristic threats, tampering with evidence, strangulation, false imprisonment and robbery, plus other charges, according to the Pocono Record. Rogers-Keeney faces similar charges as an accomplice.