Portions of downtown Chelsea are expected to be placed on the state’s National Register of Historic Places.

The proposed district stretches along Main Street from Orchard Street to North Street, and includes the 100 blocks of Jackson and West and East Middle streets, according to a press release from Ellen Thackery, Southeast Michigan field representative of the Michigan Historic Preservation Network and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

The district also includes the First United Methodist Church on Park Street and the Rockwell Building on East Street.

In anticipation of this designation, two free workshops on various financial incentives for commercial properties located within the planned historic district are scheduled for the Chelsea District Library on Feb. 28 and March 2 at 6:30 p.m. both days.

The first workshop will focus on financial incentives for community development and will be led by Deborah Stuart, a community assistance specialist with the Michigan Economic Development Corp. community assistance team, according to the release.

She will explain MEDC’s community assistance team programs, including community development block grants for façade improvements. She'll also talk about blight elimination and the signature building program, as well as brownfield incentives.

On March 2, a rehabilitation tax credit workshop will be facilitated by Robbert McKay, historical architect at the State Historic Preservation Office and Thackery,

Pre-registration is not required.

Lisa Allmendinger is a reporter with AnnArbor.com. She can be reached at lisaallmendinger@annarbor.com. For more Chelsea stories, visit our Chelsea page.