Applications for the City’s 2017 Commercial Façade Grant program are now available online. Anyone interested in the program is encouraged to review the material and contact the Grants Specialist to see if their project meets the criteria.

Applications are available at Lindsey.Maksim. Maksim will speak or meet with potential applicants in order to explain the program and determine if a project is eligible before paperwork is filed. Applications will be accepted November 11 through December 12, 2016.

The Commercial Façade Grant program was introduced nine years ago by Mayor Tom Henry and provides local businesses the opportunity to apply for matching grants to improve the exteriors of their buildings.

The program makes funds available to businesses in the core of the city in areas designated as Economic Development Target Areas, or EDTAs. Business corridors along Wells, State, Calhoun and Taylor streets, as well as Broadway, are all located in EDTAs. Through the program, grants are made to business and property owners to help offset the costs of façade renovations, signage, lighting, awnings, parking improvements, decorative fencing, and other enhancements that owners want to make to the exterior of their property.

Buildings with a single business are eligible for up to a $20,000 matching grant; buildings or sites with multiple businesses are eligible for up to $40,000. Funding comes from the Community Economic Development Income Tax, or CEDIT, funds. Since Mayor Henry kicked off the Commercial Façade Grant program in 2008, 84 façade improvement projects have been completed or are in the process of being completed.