OGDEN — Managing Partner at Fischer Regan Enterprises Thaine Fischer makes it clear that he doesn’t build the historic buildings of Ogden.

“I get a lot of credit,” he said. “‘Oh, this building is beautiful, look what you did.’ I didn’t do anything. This architect, 120 years ago, designed it and made it look the way it is. We kick out the birds, the pigeons, the raccoons and we basically give those buildings new life. We hire good engineers, good architects, good designers, but the programming of the space and what’s possible for the space is kind of my idea.”

However, he said that a culture of deferred maintenance has meant he’ll continually have a job.

“These buildings aren’t for the faint of heart,” he said. “You have a building, you get it paid for, you own it free and clear — there’s a lot of comfort in that. … You have a lot of deferred maintenance, especially on these old buildings. Once they start deteriorating, you lower your rents, you lower your rents and you lower your rents because you don’t want to spend money to bring it back up to speed. I think there was a time in Ogden where there just was no ROI. If you were to go in and renovate that building, the odds of you having that building leased at a price point that would make it worth your while was nonexistent.”

Fischer said this culture has improved over the years, but there remain modern challenges to rehabbing buildings.

“It takes a little bit of a leap of faith and a considerable amount of capital to bring things up to code — seismic upgrades, structural upgrades, electrical, mechanical, plumbing,” he said. “To do it right, it’s not for the faint of heart.”

He said that one of the biggest challenges is to get contractors not to bid these projects out with fear in mind.

“A lot of times, they’re not big projects,” he said. “They’re time-intensive. They’re a pain in the butt. They’re not cookie-cutter. They’re not a set of plans where you roll up, you bid them and you build it from the ground up. You’re usually tearing into something you don’t know what you’re tearing into and there’s surprises. Contractors hate surprises, but they love change orders. We have to manage that process where we try to work with contractors that have the same passion we have for older buildings, and more importantly, they’re willing to work with us through challenges.”

Fischer said there are a few properties he’s aiming to rehab in Ogden in the coming years.

“We have the old Utah Power & Light Building, which we’re trying to get on the National Register,” he said. “We just got approved through planning about four weeks ago or five weeks ago with the old CrossBrothers Building on Washington. Both of those we’re hoping to start this year.”

Fischer said he’d ultimately like to see more investment in rehabilitating the city’s historical structures.

“Ogden just has this incredible architectural legacy and I wish more people would get passionate about it,” he said. “We’re one of the most philanthropic towns and we give a lot to the community for nonprofit needs. When it comes to literally fixing this architectural legacy we’ve been literally gifted, I haven’t seen that and I would love to see more people invest in historical buildings.”