Economist: Saving buildings not about ‘stupid gargoyles.’ Hear him speak in Beaufort
Leading preservation economist Donovan Rypkema will speak on the economic impact of historic preservation at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday at University of South Carolina’s Beaufort Center for the Arts.
The free event, sponsored by the City of Beaufort, Historic Beaufort Foundation and USCB’s Center for the Arts, is open to the public (masks are required) and will be livestreamed on the City of Beaufort’s Facebook page.
Rypkema is principal of Place Economics, a real estate and economic development consulting firm in Washington, D.C. His book, “The Economics of Historic Preservation: A Community Leader’s Guide,” is used nationwide and has been translated into Russian and Korean.
Kathleen Williams, a spokesperson for the city, said Rypkema was originally supposed to speak in the city in late March 2020, but COVID-19 canceled his appearance. He’s been invited back, she said, because there is a huge interest in Beaufort on the economic impact of historic preservation, and he is a leading authority on the topic.
Rypkema also will be meeting with small groups at City Hall earlier on Wednesday, City Manager Bill Prokop said.
In a 2018 interview with South Dakota Public Broadcasting, Rypkema said, “there’s a whole range of contributions that historic buildings make that aren’t because of some stupid gargoyles. It’s really of the kind of character and quality of those buildings.”
Rypkema said he’s really in the business of economic development. He says he does not advocate for historic preservation solely for the sake of historic preservation.
“We argue for it as a means to a lot of things,” he said, “including its economic impact, and that manifests itself in a greater labor intensity, so it means local jobs, it means a difference in property value appreciation, which means money in the pockets of homeowners.”
