DOTHAN, Ala. (AP) — Dothan city officials want to know whether it’s feasible to expand the city’s relatively small National Register Historic District to encompass more buildings.

A Mobile-based company, McNair Historic Preservation, will begin an evaluation that could end in the fall of 2017 with a federal application for expansion, The Dothan Eagle reported.

Dothan’s National Register Historic District comprises about 180 acres and just 49 buildings. The newspaper reports that the National Register Historic District is not to be confused with the local downtown historic district, the Houston Heights district or the NBCAR district.

Dothan could be in danger of losing its National Register Historic District designation because several of the buildings in the current district boundaries have been altered or torn down, Stephen McNair of McNair Historic Preservation recently told the Dothan City Commission.

That means the district will probably need to expand.

There are at least two advantages to maintaining a National Register Historic District, McNair said.

First, developers are eligible for a 10 percent reduction in property taxes for qualifying structures, he said. Developers can also compete for federal historic tax credits which would translate to a 20 percent return on all development project costs.

Structures within the district can still be torn down, but tax breaks could motivate developers to maintain some of the older buildings, McNair said.

“At the end of the day, the district incentivizes you to do the right thing,” he said.