Present in Texas since 1867, the Catholic Order of the Incarnate Word purchased in 1897 the 283-acre estate of the late Colonel George Brackenridge, located in San Antonio at the present-day intersection of Broadway and E. Hildebrand. By 1909 “Incarnate Word College” enrolled 125 young women. Accelerating enrollment growth demanded the construction of a dedicated dormitory building, and the Collegiate Gothic-style Dubuis Hall was completed in 1929. Coeducational enrollment began in 1971, and the college was renamed the University of the Incarnate Word in 1996.

Desiring to reposition the never-renovated residence hall as a “freshman dormitory” designed to encourage the development of esprit de corps among incoming college classes, the university approached Crescent Growth Capital once again to determine whether tax credits could allow for a significant subsidy to be derived, to offset the $10 million project cost.

In April 2020, Crescent was hired on a contingent fee-basis to qualify Dubuis Hall for Texas Historic Preservation Tax Credits and monetize the resulting credit award on behalf of UIW. A twin-track process was necessary to accomplish this: 1) Nominate Dubuis Hall to the National Register of Historic Places and 2) Prepare and submit the Texas state historic preservation certification application (Parts A, B and C).

Crescent’s in-house historic preservation specialist prepared a four-element Historic Preservation Certification Application (including multiple Part B supplements) over a two-and-a-half-year period, as well as supervising the parallel effort undertaken to individually list Dubuis Hall on the National Register of Historic Places. Subsequent to its National Register listing on May 30, 2023, Crescent received Part C approval from the Texas Historical Commission on June 20, 2023. A lengthy monetization process developed, with Crescent successfully navigating numerous delays to convey net sale proceeds of approximately $2 million to the university in November 2023, representing the fourth discrete UIW capital project for which Crescent has arranged a sizeable subsidy.