The City of Hamilton is considering turning $450,000 over to its Community Improvement Corporation for the purpose of assisting owners of older building to comply with today’s building codes so their properties can once again be fully utilized.
Under consideration would be the awarding of grants up to $75,000 covering half a project’s costs, with the other half being the responsibility of the business owning the building. This would benefit the city as well as the business owners, as some of the city’s historic older buildings are among those being underutilized due to their need for upgrades.
In some cases, business need to invest in making their location handicap accessible while for others, such as restaurants, the issue might be the installation of a fire-suppression hood systems in the kitchens. City Manager Joshua Smith sited Andy’s Restaurant that used to do business on Main Street and the former Ohio Lunch located on High Street as examples of restaurants that closed due to lack of available capital to bring their hoods up to code.
Grand openings and re-openings frequently benefit from the use of a banner printing service.
It appears that the program would focus on entertainment venues, restaurants, and mixed-use projects where a large investment is needed to bring a property into compliance with today’s building codes. Where the funding would come from and details of the program, should council approve the project, have not yet been released.
