Last facade grant now out
Sep. 19—The façade improvement project for downtown Washington has made its last grant award.
The project, through Discover Downtown Washington, made its final of 11 grants to Modern Boutique.
"It had been sitting in the wings for a little while," said Discover Downtown Washington administrator Amber Werden. "We received $40,000 from the county and the city for this program. Of that, $35,000 went into the grant program and $5,000 was held back for marketing the program. We had a little left over from marketing and rolled that back in for one final grant."
The grants were for painting, doors, awnings and signs through the downtown area. A few of the improvement projects have been completed over the summer. Officials say the public can expect more improvement over the coming months.
"It has worked well. Right now, we are waiting on some of the recipients to start their construction," said Werden. "Construction is moving slowly because of the lack of availability of construction firms in the area. We are waiting on many of them to start. This is a reimbursement program, so once the project is complete then they will receive that grant money. All of them are still planning to move forward on their projects and they are very exciting projects and I can't wait to see them. For some of them this will be a total facelift. For others it will be something smaller like new signs and awnings."
One of the places that landed the façade grant was Top Dog Grooming at 209 E. Main St.
"We put on a new awning. We purchased a new sign that has not yet been installed. We repainted," said Kaylee Ramsey, owner of Top Dog Grooming, and whose family owns the building. "It made a huge difference compared to what it was. It looks a lot nicer now. I feel it attracts customers."
While the grant helped with the exterior improvements the owners of Top Dog, were inspired by those changes to make some interior improvements like installing hardwood floors and a new wall.
"We are so happy on Main Street," said Ramsey. "I like having the big windows there where we can look out on downtown. We are excited to be part of all the stuff going on on Main Street like the Christmas stuff."
The façade program had more applicants than it had grant money available. Werden says that Discover Downtown Washington is working to try and create another façade program.
"We are considering creating another round of the façade project. The first step is to put together a downtown plan. We have applied for a couple of different grants to get that plan created. Under this we would have an outside group come into our downtown and look at it and provide a guide to what the buildings could look like with the right amount of funding. They would provide options for renovations that are historically accurate to the building. Just giving the owners some ideas for starting points," said Werden. "I think some of the building owners want to make changes, but they may not be exactly sure about what they are going to do. It can be intimidating looking at a building and completely redoing it. It can also be quite expensive."
Werden says she is expecting the secondary façade program to create even more opportunities for businesses in downtown.
"I am very excited. There are some that are going to have some drastic changes and I can't wait to see them. I think the public will be excited about them as well. I think it will bring new investment downtown, said Werden. "I think the most exciting part is the potential for new investment that brings new business to downtown and gives people more places to shop, more things to see, and more places to eat."
