STEUBENVILLE — Newly awarded tax credits from the state will promote the rehabilitation of two historic buildings in Steubenville.

The Ohio Department of Development announced on Wednesday that the Steubenville U.S. Post Office and Courthouse and Beerbower Building — both on North Fourth Street — will receive tax credits through the Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit Program, which provides financial incentives for private developers to rehabilitate historic buildings.

Steubenville’s two projects are among the 37 awarded a total of $56,125,248 in tax credits to preserve 42 historic buildings across Ohio. Those projects are expected to leverage about $715 million in private investments.

“By preserving our historic buildings, we’re retaining the unique identity of Ohio’s communities,” said Gov. Mike DeWine in a release. “Through the tax credit program, we’re ensuring that future generations can experience the character and stories that shaped our state in the spaces where they happened.”

“Historic preservation is an economic driver in Ohio communities — it’s more than just saving old buildings,” said Lt. Gov. Jon Husted. “We’re preserving Ohio’s history while investing in its future through this program.”

The Historic Preservation Tax Credit program is administered in partnership with the Ohio History Connection’s State Historic Preservation Office, which determines whether a building qualifies as historic and ensures that developers’ rehabilitation plans align with the U.S. Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation.

Issued once construction is done and program requirements are verified, tax credits help offset tax liabilities associated with a rehabilitation project, making it more financially feasible for private developers. Since historic buildings are often vacant and produce little economic activity, the ODOD release states, their redevelopment into commercial, residential or manufacturing spaces “will drive further investment and interest in adjacent property.”

“Communities thrive where they honor their roots,” said Lydia Mihalik, ODOD director. “The awards we are making through the Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit Program are helping communities in their efforts to connect their past with opportunities of the future.”

“Rehabilitation of historic buildings through the historic program and federal historic tax-credit programs revitalizes main streets, helps the environment by reusing a structure that is already built and creates jobs — with the added bonus of preserving local history,” said Mariangela Pfister, head of the State Historic Preservation Office.

On Dec. 21, the tax credit program awarded $130,192 in tax credits to a $400,434 rehabilitation of the McCauslen’s Florists Building at 171 and 173 N. Fourth Street in Steubenville. That project was Steubenville and Jefferson County’s first to be awarded through the program, paving the way for Wednesday’s awards — the second and third.

Located at 200 N. Fourth St., the Steubenville U.S. Post Office & Courthouse was completed in 1924. Its construction aligned with Steubenville’s population growth in the 1920s and “showcased the city as a regional center for commerce, industry and law,” the ODOD states, adding that the post office relocated to Third Street in the late 1980s.

The building was acquired in August by the College of Saint Joseph the Worker, a recently formed, Catholic “trade college” that combines bachelor of arts studies with trade education over a six-year program. Having begun its inaugural semester in the fall, the college now hopes to rehabilitate the post office and courthouse into its Jonas and Izolina Gylys Academic Building.

Scheduled to take place over the next year, rehabilitation work will see the building’s second floor — the courtroom, law offices and jail cells — repurposed as a library and classrooms. Restoration is planned for the building’s wood floor, plaster walls and other historic features, which will be preserved. At a total cost of $1.25 million, the project received $245,000 in tax credits.

Tri-State Security and World Radio Telecommunications will remain first-floor tenants in the building, which was purchased from the Hindman family.

Jacob Imam, provost at the college, said the tax credits are a “huge financial benefit to us to be able to do justice and beautify an important building of our city.”

“I have to say — and I mean this quite genuinely — we are honored to take over such a historic building of our city. The successors to the post office and the courthouse, the Hindman family, have preserved it through the years well. … (The tax credit award) is going to enable us to renovate the building to be as beautiful as the truths that we’ll be teaching within its walls.”