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With lanes and streets closed in downtown St. Cloud, and business receipts down, the city is offering marketing grants to help impacted businesses, FILE PHOTO
A downtown revitalization project has lanes and streets closed in St. Cloud, affecting some businesses. To compensate, the City announced Monday it’s offering marketing grants of up to $1,000 to help those businesses impacted by the ongoing construction.
The downtown revitalization project includes upgrades to underground utilities, brick pavers, new sidewalks, lighting and landscaping. City Manager Bill Sturgeon noted it is scheduled to be substantially completed by October, ahead of the holiday shopping season.
“We realize our downtown businesses have been impacted by the construction,” Sturgeon said. “Although ultimately, the revitalization project will be a boost for downtown businesses, they are telling us that many of their customers aren’t coming in right now because of the construction project, and the businesses are hurting. We are hopeful that these dollars will help them create marketing campaigns to encourage those customers to come back.
“We also have been working with the businesses to make more convenient parking available,” Sturgeon said. “This includes City Hall parking lots. We are relocating city vehicles to a lot farther away, and are encouraging employees to work remotely a few days per week to open up more parking spaces at City Hall.”
The City has allocated $50,000 in grant funding for the project, phase 3 of the City’s COVID-19 grant program to assist businesses’ post-COVID recovery. To qualify, registered businesses must be located in the Entertainment District (properties between 9th and 13th Street and between Florida and Massachusetts Avenues) and have no outstanding debts to the city. Home-based businesses are not eligible for this program.
The marketing grants are funded through the city’s COVID-19 Economic Recovery & Stimulus Plan budget, which is funded through the OUC Business Development Fund, city officials said.
Grant applications will be accepted until Sept. 15 or until all funds are awarded. Additional information and applications are available online at www.StCloudFL.gov/1084/Grant-Programs. For additional information, call 407-957-7234.
Information from the City of St. Cloud was used in this report
