Throughout its 11-year history, the Duke Energy Urban Revitalization Grant Program has aided countless developers in transforming iconic buildings in Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati.
On Friday, Duke Energy announced its latest round of funding, $250,000 in Urban Revitalization grants for eight projects across the Greater Cincinnati area, including $55,000 for two projects in Covington. These grants were announced at the Urban Revitalization Grant Program’s 11-year anniversary celebration.
“Our urban corridors and main streets are critical to the vitality of our local communities,
where our customers and employees live, work and play,” said Amy Spiller, president,
Duke Energy Ohio and Kentucky. “Through our Urban Revitalization grants, we are
enabling long-term solutions and supporting the overall vitality of our neighborhoods.”
Since launching the program, Duke Energy has awarded more than $3.2 million to over 100 grantees across the Greater Cincinnati area. The grants typically provide funding for pre-development costs and serve as catalysts for further economic development in their city’s urban core.
This capital from the grants help fund important aspects of development projects such initial studies, architectural drawings and environmental investigations.
The Catalytic Fund, a Northern Kentucky community development fund which guides high impact real estate projects in the river cities of Dayton, Bellevue, Newport, Ludlow and Covington, secured the Urban Revitalization Grant funding for the two Northern Kentucky projects.
“We do seek out projects that we have focused on, then we will apply for a Duke Urban Revitalization grants just to help when pieces of the capital stack,” Catalytic Fund CEO Jeanne Schroer said.
Covington projects
- $30,000 to the former Sims Furniture building at 727 Madison Avenue in Covington.
This project will convert the historic Sims Building into a modern office building suitable for growth-stage technology and ecommerce companies, an announcement said.
Sims Furniture opened on Madison Avenue in the mid-1970s, before a long run of success. Before Sims, the building previously housed a Montgomery Ward department store. In March, Sims announced its closure. The building has been vacant since.
“We focus on buildings like the Sims building because it has a lot of development potential due to its location,” Schroer said. “In the Sims building case, it’s historically significant. Bringing that historic aspect back to life in a high quality way, that’s something that’s important to us, and also the economic development potential of it.”
- $25,000 to the Acme Building at 815 Madison Avenue in Covington.
The funds will be used to develop an 8,000-square-foot building with significant frontage on Madison Avenue in Covington and to help stimulate additional development in this location, an announcement said.
The Catalytic Fund has utilized Urban Revitalization Grants to help transform many spots throughout the river cities, some of which have become economic and social pillars within their respective city’s local economy.
“I think that communities really appreciate these grants because it puts less pressure on the municipal entities to support projects that might not get done otherwise without some sort of help or support in the form of grant dollars,” Schroer said.
Schroer also said that the river city governments have embraced the Urban Revitalization Grant program. The total amount of grants secured by all five river cities since 2013, not including this year, was $853,000, according to Schroer.
Projects such as Hotel Covington, Frida, Carabello Coffee, Braxton Brewing and Hellman Lumber Mill Conversion are some of the projects that have received an Urban Revitalization grant from Duke Energy.
These businesses, such as Hotel Covington and Braxton, are critical draws for Covington, with patrons from outside the city coming daily to visit.
“We are very proud of the fact at the Catalytic Fund that we not only want to invest in projects and bring new jobs and the residents, but we also want to make investments in things that help support our existing residents,” Schroer said.
