The City of Monroe’s Downtown Development Authority announced the relaunch of the Building Investment Grant Program at its regular meeting on Wednesday, March 20, after a three-year-long hiatus.
“Downtown Monroe has seen incredible momentum in recent years, and bringing the BIG Grant back is about continuing to build on that progress,” said Andrew Clark, chair of the DDA. “The program was paused as the DDA evaluated priorities and funding opportunities, but there was always strong interest in finding a way to reintroduce it in a more impactful and sustainable format.”
The BIG Program was created to incentivize investment in downtown Monroe. According to the DDA, the grant is available to property owners and businesses located within the Downtown Development District. Eligible projects include exterior and interior building improvements like façade improvements, ADA accessibility upgrades, roof repairs, removal of hazardous materials such as asbestos or lead, HVAC upgrades, electrical improvements, and other building infrastructure projects.
The program funds up to 30% of a project’s total cost or up to $50,000 dollars, whichever is less.
The grant will feature two application windows. The first opens on Sept. 1 and closes Nov. 1. The second opens April 1, 2027 and closes June 1, 2027.
“This relaunch reflects our continued investment in downtown businesses and property owners, while helping encourage the kinds of improvements that strengthen our historic downtown for years to come,” Clark said.
All changes to the grant are as follows:
— Contact reporter Connor Veenstra at CVeenstra@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Monroe relaunches downtown building grant after hiatus
Reporting by Connor Veenstra, The Monroe News / The Monroe News
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