Wheeling expands, renames business grant program
A Wheeling grant program that helps business owners pay for renovations and other site improvements is expanding again — and getting a new name.
Perhaps most significantly, rather than being limited to restaurants and retail stores as it had been for years, the program now also is open to entertainment venues such as arcades and ax-throwing operations. An arcade called the Headless Horseman is coming to previously vacant space at 1918 S. Wolf Road, but in an email Friday, Village Manager Jon Sfondilis said the timing is coincidental.
Accordingly, the effort has been re-christened the Wheeling Restaurant, Entertainment, and Build-Out Grant Program. It had been the Wheeling Restaurant and Retail Build-Out Assistance Grant Program.
The village board unanimously approved those and other changes Monday.
The updates were proposed, in part, to encourage entrepreneurs to fill vacant storefronts, counter inflation and keep Wheeling economically competitive in the region, Economic Development Director Len Becker told the board before its vote.
Founded in 2005, the grant program reimburses business or property owners for up to half the cost of a renovation or improvement project. Recipients have included Cooper’s Hawk Winery and Restaurant, Chicago Ramen, the Old Munich Tavern and Kilcoyne's Redwood Inn.
The program originally was limited to facade improvements, but it expanded in 2011 to fund other exterior projects, such as parking lot repairs and landscaping. In 2020, officials decided interior projects should be eligible for grants, too.
Grants are limited to commercial buildings within Wheeling’s tax increment financing districts, which use property tax revenue to raise money for public improvements. The grant money comes from those funds.
Businesses applying for grants previously were split into two categories: sit-down restaurants that were eligible for grants of up to $150,000; and takeout restaurants, stores and shopping centers eligible for up to $50,000 each.
Monday’s amendments establish a third category — for restaurants occupying at least 6,000 square feet of space, retail stores occupying at least 20,000 square feet and entertainment venues taking up at least 15,000 square feet. They’re all eligible for grants of up to $225,000.
Among other changes, projects specifically designed to make businesses more accessible to people with disabilities now can receive grant funding. Also, landlords no longer must help pay for improvements being implemented by tenants. Previously, a landlord had to contribute an amount equal to 10% of the grant.
“The intent was to ensure skin in the game from the landlord, but that is a negotiation that should happen between the tenant and landlord,” Sfondilis said.
Additionally, all grants now must be approved by the village board. Previously, grants of less than $25,000 could be approved by village staff.
Thirty-six grants have been awarded since the program launched, Sfondilis said.