July 23, 2009
By Isaac Babcock
Observer Staff
Nearly $150,000 was just waiting to help transform the faces of businesses in Winter Park. After 11 months of stagnating, the city's business facade grant program finally found some takers. Now the waiting list for grant money is filling up faster than they money can pour in.
It all started when the city's Community Redevelopment director, Sherry Gutch, introduced the program in January 2008. The idea was to provide incentive from the city for businesses to improve the look of their storefronts.
"A little push doesn't hurt," Gutch said.
But nobody knew about the program, Gutch said. For nearly a year the money sat unused.
"It was pretty much dead for a very long time," she said.
The first business to take advantage, Freedom Holdings Co., a family-owned development company, picked up $20,000 from the grant as they remodeled their building along West Morse Boulevard. By May 29 this year, when the city cut the ribbon in front of the building, many times that amount had been poured into an extensive renovation.
That was the point of the program, Mayor Ken Bradley said.
"That was the reason we did this — to improve the look of the city," he said. "And most people when they do the front of their building are doing other parts of the building too."
The improvements go beyond just the front fascia of a business, sometimes helping kickstart a revitalization from the outside in, Gutch said.
"We'll give a business $20,000, but then they'll put two, three, even four or five times as much money into the project," she said. "The return on investment is huge."
Fiction Creative, a printing company that recently moved to Winter Park, also received the maximum $20,000 grant, but is putting $2.5 million into construction.
For early adopters, business is already looking up, Bradley said. Freedom Holdings is experiencing an expansion since the renovation that changed its look.
"They're just thrilled," Bradley said. "They're already expanding and adding employees, so I know this is helping."
That's led to a deluge in businesses asking for grants, filling the list and already exhausting the original funding for the program.
"We don't call them," Gutch said. "They call us."
Seven businesses are already in the construction phase, with three more expecting grant money to help them get started. After that, Gutch said she'll be asking for more money, but she said that it's not guaranteed.
"With the economy the way it is, we don't know if we'll get the money," she said. "But we're proposing another $100,000. This program can have a huge impact on the city."
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