WESTFIELD—Downtown-area businesses are getting some help from the city due to community development block grants.
Several businesses in the city are getting the chance to utilize funds from community development block grants (CDBG) as part of the façade improvement program through the city’s Office of Community Development. The funds are being used for items such as signage, window replacement and other business improvements, according to the Director of Community Development, Peter Miller Jr.
Miller said that a total of six businesses are utilizing or have utilized the funds this year. Miller said that these businesses include Santiago’s, The Good Table, Vivid Salon, Circuit Coffee, Skyline Trading Company and Optimum Health.
“Most of these businesses are in a good position, they’re growing,” Miller said.
The new Skyline Trading Company sign (picture provided by Lisa Pac).
The funding comes with no charge for the businesses that utilize it, as long as the businesses create one full-time or equivalent job within three years, according to Miller. To be a full-time equivalent job, they must create 40 hours a week that can be worked.
“This will help to revitalize downtown,” Lisa Pac, owner of Skyline Trading Company, said. Her business is receiving a new awning and sign for the storefront.
Pac said that she hopes the revamped storefront will draw more attention to the store.
“Hoping to be more noticeable to people,” she said. “Downtown is changing, people are keeping eyes open.”
Miller said that two of the businesses utilized the funds in the summer, while the remaining four are either in the final steps of using the funds or are utilizing them currently. Other items that have been or are being purchased include central air conditioning, equipment and new windows for the front of a building.
Each project was between $2,000 to $8,000, with a total of about $38,000 of funding provided, Miller said. The city originally set aside $70,000 for this last year when the program started, and Miller said that these projects are from that pool. The remaining amount, according to Miller, will be reprogramed for use.
Regarding the length of time, Miller said that the process is not easy but now that they have gone through it, it will be quicker the next time it is done.
