Downtown Revitalization Initiative

The Staten Island Economic Development Corporation (SIEDC) and the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce recently announced a grant program that will assist small business owners, issuing funds for small projects and other necessary storefront improvements.

Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) Grant Fund

New York State’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative seeks to “transform communities that are ripe for development into neighborhoods where the next generation of New Yorkers will want to love, work and raise a family.”  In 2021, the SIEDC and the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce with support of then Borough President James Oddo, celebrated the selection of Staten Island’s neighborhoods of St. George, Tompkinsville and Stapleton, as winner of a $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) grant from New York State.

 

The SIEDC and the Chamber of Commerce then joined together to develop a program under the Initiative to help local businesses recovering from COVID-19’s economic challenges through creation of a $1 million grant fund.  Beginning in early 2023, grants ranging from $5,000 to $100,000 will be available to businesses and property owners within the DRI area for physical adaptations to meet new health and safety standards or economic realities of COVID such as renovations to outdoor spaces, installation of dividers, and ventilation upgrades.  Other improvements that help fill vacant spaces such as interior upgrades or façade improvements are eligible as are Startup capital costs for new businesses that provide community benefits at their locations.

 

The program is focused on three unique grant opportunities: Micro-grants with a maximum request of $5,000 (no matching funds required) to assist small businesses that need recovery assistance for a variety of items; COVID Grants for a minimum of $5,000 and a maximum of $25,000 with a 20% match required; Capital Grants for a minimum of $10,000 and maximum of $50,000 with a 20% match; and Community Benefit Grants at a minimum of $10,000 and maximum of $100,000 with a 20% match.

Information is available through the SIEDC at 718-477-1400 or the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce at 718-727-1900.

COVID Grants

Grants between $5,000 - $25,000, 20% match required by property owner/renter, up to 80% of total project cost reimbursed.

Physical adaptations to meet new health and safety standards, including but not limited to improvements to indoor and outdoor spaces to support outdoor seating or service areas, equipment needed for contact-less service or delivery options, ventilation, and air filtration upgrades, desk or counter dividers, signage, and floor markers, and improved broadband service to enable digital services.

Capital Grants

Grants between $10,000 - $50,000, 20% match, up to 80% of total project cost reimburse

Building upgrades to improve business operations or re-tenant space, including but not limited to storefront design improvements, interior upgrades, lighting, signage, sidewalk repairs, or other physical improvements that would make a difficult-to-rent retail space more marketable and support the opening of new downtown businesses. Example: LED signage, additional seating area, walkway improvements.

Community Benefit Grants

Grants between $10,000 - $50,000, 20% match, up to 80% of total project cost reimburse

Funding to a business and/or organization that provides a community benefit. Can also be used for capital costs for new businesses to the area or new operations within the district that produces a significant community benefit. This can include but is not limited to facade improvements, interior fit-out costs, equipment, and exhaust systems. Examples: healthy food options, family/kid-friendly activities and businesses.

North Shore Art Trail

Thanks to a DRI Initiative, the three vibrant town centers of “Downtown Staten Island” (St. George, Tompkinsville and Stapleton) will soon be even better linked together through the creation of a North Shore Art Trail. 

This public art program through which proposals will be brought to life along the Bay Street corridor, will help knit together disparate areas of downtown and beautify key sites along both the corridor and the waterfront.  The Trail will include up to 30 outdoor installations focused on Bay Street, Front Street, and side streets connecting those main streets to the waterfront greenway. The program will include art installed on the walls of buildings, in small open areas and a variety of unique spaces. The various mediums will include murals, street painting, commissioned sculptures, digital art, and significant permanent installations, among others, with a focus on sustainability and the environment.

 Artists will be selected via a proposal process and selected by a Staten Island Economic Development Corporation-lead committee of local arts experts and stakeholders in the community.  

The first installations are expected by the Spring of 2023.