[Durham INC] Durham Seeks Retail and Professional Services and Building Improvement Grant Applicants

Thu Aug 18 13:41:32 EDT 2011

CITY OF DURHAM

Office of Public Affairs

101 City Hall Plaza

Durham, NC 27701

News Release

For Details, Contact:

Amy Blalock

Sr. Public Affairs Specialist

(919) 560-4123 x 11253

(919) 475-7735 (cell)

Amy.Blalock at DurhamNC.gov

For Immediate Release: August 18, 2011

Durham Seeks Grant Applicants for Retail and Professional Services and
Building Improvement Grant Programs

October 7 Deadline to Submit Applications for Grant Opportunities 

DURHAM, N.C. - Business owners interested in building improvements
within the Downtown Development Tier or in targeted areas inside the
city limits should take note of a first round for two grant
opportunities now available through the City of Durham in fiscal year
2011-2012.

The City's Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD) is now
accepting applications for the Downtown Development Tier and targeted
areas inside the city limits for Building Improvement Grants and Retail
and Professional Services Grants. 

Eligible projects for both grant opportunities should be within the
Downtown Development Tier, community development area (CDA) outside of
the Downtown Development Tier, including targeted corridors; or within
targeted areas in the urban growth area (UGA). The targeted corridors
inside the CDA are Angier Avenue and Driver Street; West Chapel Hill
Street; Mangum Street; Fayetteville Street; East Main Street; and
Holloway Street. The targeted areas within the UGA are Wellon's Village,
North Roxboro Road, and Avondale Drive. To assist applicants with
identifying whether proposed projects are located within eligible
geographic areas, a state-of-the-art mapping application has been
developed by the City's Geographic Information Systems' Division. The
application is available on the City's website at 
http://gisweb.durhamnc.gov/durhammaps/oewd/viewer/index.html. 

Building Improvement Grant

The OEWD's Building Improvement Grant requires that eligible applicants
own the building at the time of application and the project must be
private property and non-residential. Capital investment improvements
must be on an existing building having vacant spaces for the purpose of
improving and/or upgrading the interior and exterior in order to make
the first floor more rentable or "retail/restaurant-ready." Grant
parameters include the following: 

*         If the project is within the Downtown Development Tier, the
minimum total project capital investment must be at least $225,000.

*         If the project is within the Community Development Area
outside the Downtown Development Tier, the minimum total project capital
investment must be at least $187,500.  

*         If the project is within a Targeted Portion of the Urban
Growth Area, the minimum total project capital investment must be at
least $300,000.  

Retail and Professional Services Grant

In order to be eligible for the OEWD's Retail and Professional Services
Grant, the project property must be a street level, retail business,
restaurant or a certain professional or personal services business such
as a childcare center or beauty salon.  The applicant must be the owner
of the property or have a fully signed lease and a letter of approval
from the property owner supporting the proposed improvements. The
business must be open at least five days a week, eight hours a day.
Organizations that are not eligible to apply are religious
organizations; government agencies or offices; businesses or private
clubs that exclude minors as patrons; and residential projects.

Retail and Professional Services Grant recipients are eligible to
receive up to $15,000 in matching funds from the City for a project that
meets eligibility criteria and scores high enough in the competitive
evaluation process. Only funds spent on work performed after City
approval of the grant are eligible for reimbursement. Eligible expenses
include but are not limited to security systems, telephone systems,
point of sale equipment, kitchen equipment, millwork, built-in display
furnishings and shelving, HVAC, coolers, plumbing, demolition, flooring,
grease traps, sprinkler systems, electrical, installation of walls,
package and labeling equipment and similar items.

The City's OEWD is also hosting a voluntary pre-bidders conference on
Wednesday, September 7, 2011, from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Council
Chambers of City Hall, located on the first floor of City Hall at 101
City Hall Plaza, Durham. Interested applicants will receive information
on these two City grant programs and have the opportunity to ask
questions directly to OEWD staff.

The deadline to apply for both grants is Friday, October 7, 2011, by
noon. All efforts will be made to evaluate and determine funding
requests within 45 days of the submission deadline. The City anticipates
notifying applicants of their award status by Wednesday, November 16,
2011. Funding requests of $50,000 or greater under the Building
Improvement Grant will be subject to City Council approval. 

Projects under both grants would need to be completed within one-year of
City approval. For a complete description of the grant application
guidelines, application process, and mapping application visit the
City's website at www.DurhamEconomicDevelopment.org. 

Interested applicants for proposed projects outside the Downtown
Development Tier may contact Reginald Jones, economic development
coordinator Parrish Street & special initiatives with the City's OEWD,
via e-mail at Reginald.Jones at DurhamNC.gov or by phone at (919) 560-4965,
ext. 15207. 

Interested applicants for proposed projects within the Downtown
Development Tier may also contact Joy Mickle-Walker, coordinator of
Downtown Development & Marketing with the City's OEWD, via e-mail at 
Joy.Mickle-Walker at DurhamNC.gov or by phone at (919) 560-4965, ext.
15208. 

About the Office of Economic and Workforce Development

The City of Durham's Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD)
implements a comprehensive and responsive business development strategy
that supports business formation, retention, expansion, relocation, and
employment opportunities created by the business development strategy.
OEWD also works with community partners to ensure that Durham residents
have opportunities to be placed and retained in these employment
opportunities. To learn more, visit the City's website at 
www.DurhamEconomicDevelopment.org. 

###

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://rtpnet.org/pipermail/inc-list/attachments/20110818/c6fd7a0a/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 2630 bytes
Desc: image001.jpg
URL: <http://rtpnet.org/pipermail/inc-list/attachments/20110818/c6fd7a0a/attachment.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 1013 bytes
Desc: image002.jpg
URL: <http://rtpnet.org/pipermail/inc-list/attachments/20110818/c6fd7a0a/attachment-0001.jpg>