MANSFIELD — Downtown Mansfield is about to get a facelift.
Mansfield City Council unanimously approved legislation on Wednesday to invest $25,000 annually for four years to the Facade Improvement Grant Program through Downtown Mansfield, Inc.
The purpose of the Facade Improvement Matching Grant Program is to further economic development, rehabilitate historically significant properties and incentivize property development in downtown Mansfield. Ten percent of the grant funds allotted will be used by Downtown Mansfield Inc. (DMI) for marketing and grant administration efforts.
The recapitalization of the grant program comes as part of the Mansfield Rising plan, and was identified by the Richland County Foundation as a priority in 2020 amidst its five-year, $1.5 million investment in Mansfield Rising projects during its February meeting.
Jennifer Kime, CEO of DMI, hopes a façade grant program will greatly assist economic development efforts as DMI recruits new ownership, seeks new merchants, retains current merchants and leverages additional private investment.
“We believe it’s been a great impetus to change a community’s development,” Kime said. “The end result is to increase community development downtown, incentivize new businesses, new merchants and improvements on buildings currently downtown.”
The program is available to two types of applicants:
• Property owners of mixed use or commercial structures located within the downtown district. Boundaries are First Street to the south, Sixth Street to the north, Adams Street to the east and Bowman Street to the west.
• Tenants of commercial or mixed use commercial structures located within the district as defined above with written permission of the actual property owner.
Applicants to the program will work with a design committee consisting of seven members from the following areas: City of Mansfield, Construction Industry, Realty, Banking/lending, Preservation, and DMI.
All work performed and completed must be in keeping with the architectural renderings and specifications as approved by DMI, including DMI design guidelines as well as local historic district regulations as applicable.
Kime expects the grant funds to attract two main investors: small businesses and large-scale developers. Projects under $20,000 are eligible to receive up to $2,500 as a dollar per dollar match. Projects $20,000 or higher will receive $5,000 total.
“We want to make sure we’re targeting both,” Kime said.
Since 2001, DMI was able to assist the redevelopment of 35 facades in downtown Mansfield. The grant investment in those facades totaled $65,000 and yielded over $680,000 in total project cost investment.
Even though the program hasn’t been funded since 2015, the results are evident throughout downtown Mansfield. The funds were used by Richland Bank, Uncle John’s, Athens, Squirrel’s Den and others for signage, paint, awnings, repair to windows and doors and masonry work.
After receiving the funding from the city of Mansfield, Kime said DMI will start heavily marketing the program and could be awarding funds very shortly after.
“We’re ready to go, we’ve done this before and we are eager,” Kime said.
