Council shows support for Main Street grant for downtown owner

     Only Main Street Iowa Communities are eligible to apply for the Main Street Challenge Grant.

   With Monticello being a Main Street Iowa Community, a downtown building and business owner is looking to go after the grant.

   During the Sept. 3 Monticello City Council meeting, Monticello Main Street Director Brian Wolken and Tim Flynn (Flynn Properties), owner of the former “Duit building” (119 E. First St.) in downtown Monticello explained their plans for the Challenge Grant.

   Flynn and his family reside in Jones County. He’s been in the photography business for about seven years. Earlier this year, Flynn purchased the “Duit building” and opened a space for his photography studio. He would like to renovate the entire building, including the second story to provide upper-story housing.

   Wolken said the Challenge Grant is about bricks and mortar improvements to a building. If successful, this would be the first time a business in Monticello Main Street’s district would be awarded.

   “I’ve been looking at the Duit building for several years and just waiting for the opportunity for them to be ready to part with it,” offered Flynn. “Brian has been giving me a lot of great ideas on how to also utilize the space for events in the downtown area.

   “In my design, it’ll largely be one large room for my studio work, but opening that up to others to utilize event space makes sense to me. I’m looking at this property as a way to create a space for me to do more commercial projects as opposed to what you’d typically think of photography (families, seniors, etc.).”

   The Challenge Grant awards up to $100,000. Property owners are expected to contribute 50 percent toward the project. The Challenge Grant amounts to 40 percent, with the city contributing 10 percent.

   “So if you do the math, it ends up being a $250,000 project,” Wolken said. “This is taking a project to the next level. It’s not just going to be a nice space for a business for the next 10 to 20 years, it’s going to be a nice building for the next 100 years. It is bringing a building that has been vacant back on to the active market.

   “With a sizable investment like this, if you look at the Blind Pig, their leverage for tax dollars is quite higher. Their levy rate went up significantly after their renovations. So we’re looking at that quality of a renovation.”

   Wolken said he and Flynn visited with other Main Street Communities to get an idea of what to include in the competitive application.

   “The challenge grant is Main Street exclusive,” said Wolken. “We’ll be competing with other 52 (Main Street) communities for a share of the pie to invest in downtown Monticello.”

   Typically, though about 35 Main Street Communities apply for the Challenge Grant.

   Council member Mary Phelan asked Wolken if the 10 percent from the city was typical for a grant like this.

   “It used to be a dollar-for-dollar match for the project, and now the state is saying it needs to be 60/40,” he said, “with the local entities having a little more skin in the game than the state itself. You get bonus points for doing these partnerships with the city.”

   Wolken told the council that the 10 percent could be in-kind, cash, or done through TIF incentives (urban revitalization).

   “There’re different ways to leverage that in the downtown area,” continued Wolken. “Much like you give the increments on the taxes back to a brand-new build, you can do that same thing in a downtown setting. The increment gets refunded and you come back with the funding over a multi-year period.”

   Council member Dave Goedken felt the best option for the city was through tax incentives.

   City Administrator Russ Farnum said the council would have the declare the downtown an urban revitalization district before incentives could take shape.

   “If we do it in the form of a tax abatement, it’s an incentive and it creates new growth,” proposed Goedken. “Some people have an issue with; I have no issue whatsoever with these abatements because if you didn’t abate it, they probably wouldn’t do it. It’s a tax you’d never create.”

   The council approved a letter of support for Flynn to go after the Challenge Grant, as well as supporting the project up to 10 percent of the total cost, or $25,000.

   “As some numbers come in, it’s about a $233,000 project and we’re still waiting for the general contractor’s number to come in,” noted Wolken. “So that will far exceed that $250,000. But that’s the number I would have in your head as you’re talking about this project.

   “The city partnering on the project shows that if you’re willing to invest in your downtown, that means the downtown is going to succeed for years to come,” he continued. “It helps with the growth and development. You’re seeing buildings coming up for sale in our downtown are being bought by investors for their own businesses. The Strittmatter building has been sold to somebody who is going to invest in that for development of additional units. You’re starting to see that investment in the downtown.”

   “If we don’t want to put our money into our city, we might as well forget it,” commented Council member Jake Ellwood.