Orlando City Council approved a new financial incentive program to help entice new restaurants and retail shops downtown that could give hundreds of thousands of dollars to businesses looking for a home in the urban core.
The Community Redevelopment Agency’s Retail Stimulus Program was originally created in 2010 to help attract strong retail operators downtown and was updated in 2020. In the years since the CRA has been tasked to attract more restaurants and retail downtown as part of the mayor’s shift away from bars and nightclubs and a more family-friendly (insert buzzword) “neighborhood.”
The program has officially been divided into two separate branches; the DTO Retail Program and the DTO Restaurant Program, which will award qualifying businesses funds for build-outs and rental assistance. An eligible full-service restaurant concept looking to open in the downtown core as well as Parramore and Creative Village can now get up to $400,000, or $100 per square foot, in funding as well as up to $50,000 in rental assistance. Those funds must be matched by the building owner to qualify.
The Retail Program has a cap of $150,000 for tenant improvements or $25 per square foot.
Businesses must have operated for at least five years to qualify for funding.
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GF,
Agree with you on this. We tried to make it happen in 2011. Then 700 parking spots were removed under I4, we spent more time running the homeless out of restaurant, promises were made and not followed through. It a shame that some things never change. Great place during the day, but when night falls so does downtown. Good luck!
You know how to attract downtown business? Reduce crime, reduce vagrancy, and make parking accessible. Make it an appealing place to go. No one wants to go somewhere where you have to step around the homeless, or risk criminality.