By: Deborah Johnson Wood
The facade of Pitkin Drug and Gift Shoppe's historic brick building in downtown Whitehall was last updated in the '50s, and when the owners wanted to replace 17 second story windows three years ago, the $15,000 price tag was cost prohibitive.
Now that Whitehall's Downtown Tax Increment Financing Authority (TIFA) Facade Grant Program is in place, the store improvements qualify for a $5,000 matching grant.
"Since the facade program was adopted last year, it's gotten us moving," says manager and co-owner Ryan Briegel. "The building was built in the 1860s and these windows are probably the originals. They're old and rotten and need to go."
The new windows match the historic character of the building and they will replace the current blue-gray trim with an updated sand color.
The grant program was born out of Whitehall's 2006 Cool Cities grant. The city hired HyettPalma to study the downtown and make recommendations on improving its economic viability. One of those recommendations was updating the store facades.
The facade grant program has a pool of $25,000 for matching grants in amounts up to $5,000 for facade upgrades. So far this fiscal year (July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008), several businesses have received grants totaling some $10,000.
"We're trying to help business owners improve the appearance of downtown Whitehall," says program coordinator Rich Houtteman of Muskegon Area First. "We want to improve foot traffic and make shopping experiences more enjoyable."
The City hired Hooker DeJong to create facade renderings for the Whitehall's entire downtown, to illustrate what an improved downtown could look like. The renderings will be completed by late spring.
Source: Ryan Briegel, Pitkin Drug and Gift Shoppe; Rich Houtteman, Muskegon Area First
Photograph courtesy of Masana, LLC.
Related Articles
Whitehall municipal plan could spur millions in investments
Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.