Thursday, Aug. 28, 2008 | midnight
Henderson is putting together a multi-faceted plan to attract businesses to downtown's Water Street District and help them thrive.
The Redevelopment Agency unveiled the six-part Business Retention and Expansion Plan in June, and since then, three of the six programs it recommends have been adopted by the City Council.
The plan was the result of a best practices study of redevelopment bodies in 19 other U.S. cities, including Las Vegas. Redevelopment Agency staff who conducted the study concluded that Henderson offers more redevelopment programs and assistance than any other city they examined, but found a handful of programs that staff members thought would work well in Henderson.
"No one community it seemed has as many programs as we have, so by adding these additional programs, I think we’ll really be doing a service for the businesses in our community," Henderson Redevelopment Project Manager Anthony Molloy said. "I'm really excited about it, because it will give us more tools for businesses to expand and make better use of their resources, so it will strengthen the Water Street District."
In June, the City Council approved the Grow Henderson Fund, which is a partnership between the city and the National Development Council to provide funding for small businesses.
The National Development Council issues low-interest business loans that are backed by the Small Business Administration. The Redevelopment Agency will promote the program and facilitate the application process for Water Street businesses.
On Aug. 18, the council adopted the plan's next two programs, which focus on business recruitment and building improvements.
The Business Recruitment Plan calls for the agency to compile fresh information about the demographics and traffic flow in the Water Street District, then target niche businesses that could succeed in the area and actively recruit businesses that fit the profile.
The third program, the Facade Improvement Grant, is based on a similar program already used on Water Street. The existing program is a loan-to-grant program that helps businesses upgrade their building's exterior.
The new program is similar, but smaller in scale and aimed at smaller businesses. Unlike the existing program, which begins as a loan and turns into a grant only after the business meets a number of conditions over a period of years, the new program will be a grant from the beginning.
The facade grant will be for only up to $3,000, however, and is meant for smaller improvements such as paint or minor architectural embellishments. Molloy said the city will continue to operate the old program, which grants loans of up to $30,000, in order to meet the needs of businesses with larger facilities.
Jeremy Twitchell is a reporter for the Home News. He can be reached at 990-8928 or [email protected].
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