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Preservation Easements
Program
Overview
The Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois (the “LPCI”) received its first easement in 1976 with the donation of the Henry
Demarest
Lloyd house “Wayside” in Winnetka. In the early 80s, LPCI organized a
formal easement donation program and acquired easements for Frank Lloyd Wright’s
Unity Temple
and the
Chicago Theater. Today approximately
440 preservation
easements, not including an additional 96 structures at Fort Sheridan, a
former Army Base on Chicago’s North Shore, are protecting historic properties throughout Chicagoland. All
easements are monitored yearly by Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois (LPCI)
staff and architects.
 Owners
of certified historic structures in historic districts located in Chicago’s
Gold Coast, Beverly,
Hyde Park,
and Lincoln Park neighborhoods - along with the communities of Evanston, Oak
Park, and Lake Forest - have saved their properties in perpetuity and gained
a one-time charitable tax deduction recognized by the Internal Revenue
Service. With more
than 90 National Register and local historic districts in the Chicagoland
area, easement donation opportunities exist in many neighborhoods and
suburbs. Among the
communities LPCI will focus on this year are LaGrange, Naperville and
Riverside, as well as the Lakeview, Ravenswood, and Sheffield districts in
Chicago.
For further information please contact LPCI at 312 922-1742 or send an email
to
mail@lpci.org. Follow the Preservation Easement links on the
side menu to
learn more.
Click to view a
list of LPCI current easements.
In late July 2006 the US Congress
passed H.R. 4, an omnibus pension reform bill, which included charitable
language relevant to historic building preservation easements; President George
Bush signed the bill in early August 2006.
By this legislation, Congress has reaffirmed the preservation easement program.
Preservation easements are, in every preservationist’s estimation, the strongest
and only perpetual protection possible against demolition and unsympathetic
alterations and additions.
Preservation easements protect all open-air sides of a structure, not just the
front façade. Easement holding organizations must be qualified historic
preservation organizations in order to accept easements, and must have the
resources and the commitment to manage and enforce the easements. The one-time
charitable tax deduction may be carried forward over a six year period, with up
to a maximum of 30% adjusted gross income (AGI) in any given year.
The preservation easement donation is coupled with a cash contribution to LPCI.
This allows LPCI to cover the perpetual future expenses associated with your
property (monitoring and enforcing the easement in perpetuity), in addition to
furthering our preservation mission. Preservation easement donors have
understood this financial commitment, and LPCI has partnered with these property
owners, allowing them to protect their property and to receive the tax benefits
associated with the donation. This donation must be received in the year you
wish to take the Preservation Easement deduction.
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LPCI’s Residential Easement
Cash Donations are as Follows:
Value of Property DONATION
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Value of
Property |
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Tax Deductible Donation
to LPCI |
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Up to $2.9 million |
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10% of tax deduction, capped at
$30,000 |
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$3 million - $3.9 million |
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$35,000 |
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$4 million - $4.9 million |
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$40,000 |
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$5 million - $5.9 million |
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$45,000 |
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Over $6 million |
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$50,000 |
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