By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Keeping century-old downtown storefronts spruced up can be costly and not at the top of a business owner’s to-do list.
So earlier this year, the City of Bowling Green offered to partner with downtown businesses that needed their façades fixed. So far, five businesses have taken the city up on its offer.
On Tuesday, the Bowling Green Historic Preservation Commission reviewed the list of sites that have been approved for the enhancement grants:
- Sentinel Place LLC at 133 E. Wooster St., $16,200 for repair and replacement of wood trim and roofing on bay windows, masonry repair, tuck pointing, awning, light fixtures, and trim painting.
- GSS Investment Properties at 119 N. Main St. (Trotter’s), $5,100 for sanding and repainting.
- Good Hart Properties Ltd. at 182 N. Main St., $2,995 for scraping, powerwashing, priming and painting.
- Bowling Green Masonic Temple at 159 N. Main St., $1,978 for reinstalling metal shingles and repairing a rotting window.
- Good Hart Properties Ltd. at 132 E. Wooster St. (Kabob It), $1,634 for scraping, priming and painting.
The grants are matching, with the property owners splitting the costs 50/50 with the city.
“I think it’s a great project,” said John Sampen, chairman of the city’s Historic Preservation Commission. “Hopefully council will agree to continue this.”
The program still has a balance of $12,093 for this year to help with façade facelifts.
“I know there are people interested” but there are no pending applications, said Heather Sayler, the city’s planning director who oversees the grant program.
Eligible projects include exterior improvements to the façade of any commercial or mixed-use building located in the Downtown Special Improvement District. These improvements may include:
- Awnings
- Masonry work: brick cleaning, tuck pointing, replacement
- Painting
- Repair, restoration, or appropriate replacement of exterior windows and doors
- Repair or replacement of roofing system
- Fire escapes or exterior upper floor access
- Any other visible exterior improvements
The grant will not fund interior improvements, operating funds, HVAC repair, plumbing repair, sidewalk repair, furnishings, equipment, commercial signage (unless part of the historic structure, which will be determined at the discretion of staff), and landscaping.
Historical features of the façade should remain intact as much as possible. The city will not reimburse for any request that removes ornate historical features, such as lower or upper cornices, ornamental window trims, or storefront display windows.
Grant applications must be submitted to the Planning Department online, with a project description, current photos of proposed work area, a rendering/drawing of proposed work to scale, and itemized cost estimates of proposed work by qualified contractors.
Community leaders are united in their commitment to saving the grand downtown structures – but the pathway to preservation is different depending on perspective.
Maintaining those historic buildings isn’t easy or cheap – and adding another layer of red tape will not help the effort, Hallie Williams, executive director of Downtown BG, explained to the HPC last fall. The city’s grant program helps projects without hindering them.
“I think we do need to encourage and support façade improvements,” she said. “I’d love to see an improvement program helping to finance painting and tuckpointing.”
“I want our businesses to be able to focus on their day to day operations within their businesses,” and sometimes those priorities get in the way of fixing exterior issues like peeling paint.
“They want to maintain their buildings. They want to take care of them. Sometimes finances are tight,” Williams said.
