Gurnee businesses will soon receive a helping hand, as the Village Board approved using up to $250,000 to help them make improvements.
The plan approved Monday will allow businesses to apply for up to $10,000 to provide durable, permanent improvements to their premises. The money will be allocated as a 50/50 matching grant, and retail stores, restaurants and entertainment businesses are eligible to apply.
The improvements may be retroactive to last year, so any business that made an improvement throughout the pandemic can apply for a grant to help cover the cost of it, even though it has already been done. The grants are not applicable for any projects that are being paid for by other federal, state or county assistance programs.
Initially, franchises with more than 20 locations were going to be ineligible, but Village Administrator Patrick Muetz said franchises will now be able to take part in the grant program if they invest to relocate to Gurnee. He cited Dairy Queen, which invested to relocate to the village, as an example of a larger franchise being eligible.
Muetz said that the village is also changing the opening date for the grant. In the initial presentation, applications for grants would have begun to be accepted on Oct. 1, but Muetz said that the starting date will be pushed back, most likely to mid-October, as the village still has some work to do before it is ready to accept applications.
“There’s still some legwork to do,” he said.
Assistant Village Administrator Jack Linehan said, “Now, the village is able to do what we would have done in 2020 had our own finances not been as uncertain. We are able to help our small businesses that struggled tremendously the past 18 months.”