Facade Improvement Grants, Corridor Improvement Grants and Downtown Business Incentive Awards work together for downtown.
(Boonton, NJ, July 30, 2015) — The city of St. Charles, IL, has put together a trio of incentives aimed at improving the downtown building stock while also encouraging new and expanding businesses to locate in ground floor spaces.
Because so many downtown buildings are historic, business owners who want to change building uses or expand often face issues around fire and safety codes, as well as out-dated heating, cooling, plumbing, and electrical systems.
"The goal is to encourage people to still want to relocate into these buildings," says Matthew O’Rourke, the city’s economic development division manager. "We also want to improve and modernize the existing building stock so that it is adaptable for more businesses in the future. And we want to fill vacancies in our downtown, on the first floor, specifically. We really wanted to focus the impact on filling those vacant spaces that everyone sees when they drive through town."
The Downtown Business Incentive Award is a matching grant for permanent structural, plumbing, electrical, mechanical, and safety upgrades, rather than cosmetic improvements.
Awards of up to $10,000 are approved by the Economic Development staff, with awards over that amount and up to $25,000 available with city council approval.
Details on Downtown Business Incentive Award program and much more appear in the July issue of Downtown Idea Exchange.
###
About the Downtown Research & Development Center
For over 50 years, the Downtown Research & Development Center has acted as the information clearinghouse on practical strategies and tactics for revitalizing the hearts of our cities and towns.
The Group\'s main activities include publishing the widely influential Downtown Idea Exchange and Downtown Promotion Reporter newsletters; publishing relevant books and reports; and operating the DowntownDevelopment.com website.
Website: http://www.DowntownDevelopment.com