City officials on Monday provided a second installment of funding to a grant program aimed at improving some of downtown’s commercial buildings.
Columbus Redevelopment Commission members unanimously approved a resolution to direct $250,000 of tax increment financing (TIF) funding from the central allocation area towards the Office of Downtown Development’s (ODD) Downtown Improvement Grant Program.
Redevelopment provided the program an initial $250,000 in December of 2023 to pilot the program, which intends to spur investment downtown, promote historic, cultural and architectural appreciation and generally improve the aesthetic quality of downtown buildings.
The program provides two tiers of matching grants— one up to $15,000 exclusively for exterior improvements to commercial buildings, and another up to $50,000 for larger projects, including improvements to the interior or exterior of retail businesses and restaurants.
The grants are intended for long-term improvements like interior demolition and shell reconstruction, plumbing, flooring, historical restoration of interior features and improvements to a commercial storefront, including doors and windows, to name a few.
ODD administers the grant, and its staff members work with applicants during the application process. Applications are reviewed by a five-member committee quarterly, which forwards a recommendation to the ODD board for a final decision.
Since the grant program officially launched in May of 2024, $226,992 in grants have been awarded across 12 projects, generating total investments just over $900,000.
To qualify, an eligible property needs to be within the downtown improvement area generally from 11th Street down to Columbus City Hall; have commercial activity as its primary purpose; and not be delinquent in property taxes, city liens or fines, nor any outstanding code compliance issues.
Applicants are reimbursed after their project is finished. Applications for the grant are available on ODD’s website, and each tier of grant requires project estimates and current state photos, with the tier two grants also requiring a cover letter.
More specific information about what the grants are eligible for, along with additional guidance on the application can be found at: oddcolumbus.com/grants.
ODD Executive Director Ike DeClue said that they already have six to 10 people in conversation with staff about applying in 2026.
The most recent project that was completed using the grants was The Forge on 4th, which received a dark gray paint-job to match some of the exposed brick on the front of the building.
Other buildings to receive the grants include kidscommons, 301 Washington St., 521 Washington St., Bartholomew County Historical Society, BlackSheep Pizza, the LHP Building at 305 Franklin St., and Viewpoint Books.
Only about half of the second floors of buildings located in the stretch from First to Seventh streets are being used, and DeClue mentioned that moving forward, he hopes the grant program will help stimulate further investment that could give those vacant spaces new uses, even though the grant amounts would not cover the full cost of what would need to be done.
“Some of these buildings have not had a tenants since the 1950s, so everything’s out of code,” DeClue told commission members. “… This is not going to pay for it, by any means, but it’s going to maybe take a little bit of the sting out when (a building owner is) determining whether it’s even feasible to do it.”
Going forward, DeClue said they hope to potentially expand the program to residential loans as well.
