By Scott Nishimura snishimura@bizpress.net
Fort Worth is nominating the Will Rogers Memorial Center Coliseum, Auditorium, and Tower to the prestigious National Register of Historic Places, the city said.
Arthur Weinman, a Fort Worth architect hired by the city in November to create and submit the nomination, has completed the survey, historical investigation, and related services and submitted the nomination to the Texas Historical Commission for review and comment, the city said.
The process typically takes up to eight months. Once approved, the three buildings would be designated on the National Register, a guide to U.S. cultural resources meant to indicate properties that should be considered for protection.
“That’s a card the city can play in tourism,” Jerre Tracy, executive director of Historic Fort Worth, Inc., said.
The designation “may enhance the marketability of the facility for some events,” the city staff said in a report this week to City Council members.
The highest level of protection would come if the city ultimately has the Will Rogers complex declared a landmark by its Historical and Cultural Landmarks Commission.
Such designations can also yield 25 percent tax credits for qualifying for-profit historic projects.
A city could apply for credits as a government nonprofit, “but it’s a little tricky,” Tracy said.