But the tax credits are competitive, and nearly 50 projects across Ohio have applied for awards in this funding round.
Applicants have requested more than $86 million in credits, but the state awards far less than that.
The Ohio Development Services Agency awarded less than $35.9 million in the last funding round and less than $26.6 million in the round before that.
The agency usually has about $30 million in base funding to allocate each round.
The Centre City building, also called the United Brethren building, at 40 S. Main St., is again pursuing state historic tax credits, after forfeiting a previous award in 2019.
A proposed rehab project for the building won $5 million in credits in 2016, but the incentives were rescinded after the project failed to make progress and achieve program milestones, said Megan Nagy, a spokesperson with the Ohio Development Services Agency.
The Montgomery County treasurer filed a foreclosure action against the property and its owners earlier this year, but the case was dismissed after ownership got on a payment plan for the delinquent taxes.
The owners previously proposed converting the 21-story vacant building into housing.
The project is moving ahead now, and the plan remains more or less the same, said Robert Lubin, managing partner with American Investor Immigration Law, which is behind the project.
An earlier tax credit application said the developers wanted to spend about $46 million to create more than 160 apartments and some commercial spaces.
A different group has proposed spending about $30 million to convert the Longfellow school campus at 245 Salem Ave. into housing and other amenities.
The partners on the project earlier this year in the last funding round applied for about $3.7 million in state historic tax credits, but they did not get an award.
The development team proposed creating 125 residential units for seniors, including about 54 apartments in existing structures on the site.
The group also proposed constructing an apartment building on the campus, as well as creating a community library, lounge space, dining hall and a theater in an historic auditorium and gymnasium.
Partners on the project included Weyland Ventures, the developer of the Wheelhouse Lofts; G.F. Bailey Companies; and United Church Homes.
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