Attracting business key part of Main Street manager’s position
A Main Street manager in Uniontown would serve as the contact person for businesses considering moving to the city and apply for grants to improve downtown, said Downtown Business District Authority Chairman Steve Neubauer. The DBDA is preparing an application for the Main Street Program, which offers a $175,000 grant spread over five years and requires a $90,000 local match.
The money would be used to hire a Main Street manager and possibly an assistant who would work to recruit and retain businesses and apply for additional grants for the city’s business district.
“Attracting new businesses is a full-time job,” Neubauer said.
The state also would provide an equal match of up to $60,000 to any additional money the DBDA raises to continue the program beyond the initial five years, he said.
The grant application is due in to the state Department of Community and Economic Development by the end of this month.
Neubauer said the DBDA plans to ask City Council to contribute $30,000 toward the local match.
Program rules prohibit obtaining more than 30 percent of the match from any single source, so the DBDA is trying to come up with $30,000 from its budget, fund-raisers and a membership drive, he said.
He said he would like to have the fee-based membership in the DBDA be required for all downtown businesses.
To secure the remaining $30,000 for the match, the DBDA will seek contributions from foundations, business owners, local banks and the community, Neubauer said.
Neubauer said the DBDA has been gathering input from citizens to prioritize the goals of the program.
Currently, the DBDA does not have enough money to employ a full-time executive director, he said. The city gives the DBDA $21,000 a year and most of that goes toward part-time acting executive director Judy Vrabel’s salary.
He said some of the goals could be identifying available commercial space, clustering similar or related businesses, expanding the DBDA’s fa?ade improvement loan program and finding uses for available space on the upper floors of existing businesses and offices.
Few vacant retail spaces remain available on Main Street leaving Morgantown Street, Fayette Street, Pittsburgh Street and Beeson Boulevard as possible venues for new businesses, Neubauer said.
If this Main Street Program application wins approval, it would be the third time the city has been involved with the program.
The first time was in 1984. Neubauer said a manager was hired, but only a handful of business took advantage of the no-interest loans for fa?ade renovations before the program ended a couple years later.
In the early 1990s, the city used the Main Street Program and Community Development Block Grants to rebuild Main Street, he said. Along with new sidewalks and streetlights, utility lines were moved underground.
While the Main Street Program is serious business for the DBDA, Neubauer said the authority continues to run the Storey Square Summer Concert Series, Light-up Night and Arts in the City.
He also credited DBDA board members, several of whom are second- or third-generation business owners, and other downtown merchants for working to “leave this place a little better than when we got here.”