Downtown Lexington businesses can now get grants to help with reopening costs
Two downtown Lexington groups are offering grants to businesses in the city’s core to help with rent or mortgage payments, re-hiring staff or buying personal protection equipment
The Downtown Lexington Partnership and the Lexington Downtown Management District have started a joint grant program that will award up to $3,000 to eligible downtown businesses to help with reopening costs.
“Street-level retail, restaurant and bar businesses are the heartbeat of downtown Lexington and we wanted to quickly get a program out on the street to help,” said Terry Sweeney, president and CEO of the Downtown Lexington Partnership. “To do that, we surveyed about 30 downtown businesses on what they would need to reopen and tailored the program based upon the input collected from those surveys.”
The grants can also be used by street-level restaurants, set to reopen Friday, to expand outdoor seating areas, Sweeney said. Many downtown retail stores reopened earlier this week.
Recipients cannot use the grants for expenses already covered by the federal paycheck protection program or other government assistance programs. Qualifying expenses include rent or mortgage payments, cleaning and disinfecting supplies, interior and exterior alterations to help comply with social distancing guidelines, marketing expenses and payroll for re-hiring staff.
The program is limited to businesses in downtown Lexington.
An initial pool of $80,000 is available with the hope that additional dollars will be available in the next 60 days.
To find out more about the micro grants, interested businesses should contact Ethan Howard, the Downtown Lexington Partnership’s director of placemaking and economic development at ethan@downtownlex.com.
