Tax credits, to be outlined Tuesday, will determine whether new life will be breathed into the former Carr Central High School Building.

A North Carolina development company is applying through the Mississippi Home Corporation, which turned down previous requests from a previous owner.

The Landmark Group, which specializes in restoring old and historic buildings for residential use, will explain its plan to convert the former school at 1805 Cherry St. into 56 apartments at a public hearing at 6 p.m. Tuesday at First Baptist Church, which neighbors the Carr building to the north, said company spokesman Mike Massoglia.

The Landmark Group has an option to purchase the Carr Building from owner Webber Brewer, Massoglia said, and the sale will hinge on whether it can get tax credits for creating apartments for low- to moderate-income families. Residents would have to qualify to live in the apartment complex, tentatively called “Carr School Gardens,” based on household income.

“There’s a very strict criteria that our property management company uses to screen applicants,” Massoglia said.   

The application for tax credits will go out next month, said Massoglia, and The Landmark Group will know this summer if the project is approved. Because of the building’s status as a Mississippi Landmark and its listing on the National Register of Historic Places, Massoglia said the company will also seek tax credits through the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

“Assuming everything goes according to plan, the apartments could be ready for families to move into at the end of next year,” said Massoglia. “We’re talking about garden style apartments for working families, and we envision there will be some new construction on the back of the building.”

The 85-year-old building has been vacant since 1979, when its use as a school ended. The deed then went to the City of Vicksburg, which had plans to raze it until it was declared a Mississippi Landmark. The city later sold the structure, the gym portion of which had been destroyed by fire, to local resident Robert Rosenthal, who applied several times for government participation and was turned down.

It was purchased by Brewer, a local developer, in May 2007. He immediately gutted the building, hauled away debris that had littered the building since the school closed nearly 30 years ago and also removed asbestos. The efforts attracted enthusiasm from alumni who intensified their volunteer efforts to clean up the school grounds.

Since he purchased the building, Brewer has said he hoped to develop it into condos and restore the auditorium to its original condition. He said The Landmark Group has a good reputation for completing similar projects across the country, but acknowledged there are no guarantees.

“It’s all just talk until the tax credits are awarded,” said Brewer. “I’ve been involved in trying to get these tax credits before and it’s a long, hard process to get your project awarded because you’re competing with projects around the state. Come July or August, we should know something.”

Based in Winston-Salem, the company has completed 80 restoration and new construction projects in the Carolinas, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. Its property management company manages 2,600 apartments, Massoglia said.

“One thing Landmark has been very successful at is using different tax credit programs that allow us to tackle large restoration projects like the one in Vicksburg. This is going to provide some much needed housing and it’s going to restore a beautiful old building,” he said.

The Landmark Group founder DeWayne Anderson received a lifetime achievement award this year from the South Carolina Department of Archives and History and the Office of the Governor for rehabilitating 40 storefronts in the state since the early 1990s and creating 450 affordable apartments.

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Contact Steve Sanoski at ssanoski@vicksburgpost.com.