Downtown Frederick Partnership Announces Mission: Interior Grant Program Awardees
FREDERICK, Md. (PRWEB) June 27, 2018 -- Downtown Frederick Partnership is thrilled to announce the awardees for the third Mission: Interior matching grant program – Molly’s Meanderings, Pistarro’s, smooch! studio, The Temple – A Paul Mitchell Partner School, VINI CULTURE wine bar & café and Whitesell’s Pharmacy.
Mission: Interior’s purpose is to assist in making critical interior capital repairs that will make the downtown retail business community more successful overall. The program offers up to $5,000 in matching grant funds for interior improvements to eligible retail businesses. For the Spring 2018 grant round, a total of 13 businesses applied, requesting $54,000 in grant funds, an increase of over $20,000 versus grant funds requested in 2017.
In response to the highly competitive applications received this year, the Partnership has awarded $23,795 in grant funds to downtown businesses – $4,295 more than were awarded in 2017. Eligible retail business owners and/or property owners applied for up to 50 percent of the cost of their improvement project.
This year, awardees are providing a total match of more than $131,000 in interior building investments. 100% of the selected applicants are investing a greater than 50% cash match into their project. In 2017, awardees provided a total match of $40,000 and in 2016 awardees provided a total match of $110,000.
To date, the Mission: Interior program has awarded more than $63,000 to downtown businesses and has helped to spark investments of more than $344,000 in interior building improvements throughout Downtown Frederick.
The planned projects include:
- Molly’s Meanderings, 17 N Market St
Installing hardwood floors, LED lighting and new paint on interior, supporting the business’ re-branding efforts and replacing worn materials that have been in place for the store’s 18 year tenure: $4,000 grant
- Pistarro’s, 221 N East St
Installing a new sprinkler system to the entire building, allowing for future growth and renovation of the space and expansion of the current dining area, ultimately leading to the addition of a new private meeting and dining space in Downtown Frederick: $5,000 grant
- smooch! studio, 8 N East St
Updating the store with a “facelift,” including new energy efficient lighting, new flooring, paint and a custom quartz lipstick table, providing critical upgrades to a business that employs 14 staff and has held a 9 year tenure in Downtown Frederick’s Everedy Square & Shab Row: $4,000 grant
- The Temple – A Paul Mitchell Partner School, 22 W Church St
Refinishing original floors on the first and second floor classroom spaces, highlighting the beauty of one of Downtown Frederick’s prominent historic buildings: $5,000 grant
- VINI CULTURE wine bar & café, 20 N Market St
Replacing worn carpet tiles with commercial grade carpeting, providing an update to the most popular window seating areas in the restaurant and maintaining the business’ highly-regarded aesthetic appeal: $795 grant
- Whitesell’s Pharmacy, 236 N Market St
Replacing the heating and air conditioning system throughout the building, which has served patients and community members for almost 70 years; This project opens the door to future renovations of the space, which Whitesell’s recently purchased from their landlord: $5,000 grant
Applications were reviewed by the Partnership’s Business Development Committee and ranked on criteria including longer lease periods, business tenure, greater than 50% match, projects that expand the services offered by the business through improvements to either accessibility or fire suppression systems, geographic diversity and projects that improve and/or restore an interior historic feature. The six awardees were funded a total of $23,795 in grant dollars.
Mission: Interior is an expansion of a pilot program offered in 2015 to the downtown merchant community. Due to the popular response to the pilot offering, the Partnership worked together with the City of Frederick’s Department of Economic Development in 2016 to apply for State of Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development funds to make the program a more permanent and significant offering to address identified needs.
Since its first year as an established grant program, Mission: Interior has provided grant dollars to fund interior improvement projects at 18 downtown businesses. This grant program has had a tangible impact in the Downtown Frederick business community and the partners hope to continue to receive State of Maryland support in future years.
“The Partnership is thrilled with the merchant response to Mission: Interior,” said Kara Norman, Partnership Executive Director. “We can’t wait to see the finished results and the impact the positive changes will have on the Downtown Frederick business community.”
For more information on the Partnership or the Mission: Interior program, visit downtownfrederick.org, email mainstreet(at)downtownfrederick(dot)org or call the office at 301.698.8118.
Downtown Frederick Partnership works to enhance, promote and preserve the vitality and livability of Dow0ntown Frederick, a national Main Street community.
Kara Norman, Downtown Frederick Partnership, http://www.downtownfrederick.org, +1 (301) 698-8118, [email protected]
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