The Downtown Investment Authority is looking to hand out $3 million or more to attract retailers to the urban core, with hopes that more than a dozen grants can be handed out in the programs's first year.
A committee of the Downtown Investment Authority on Monday finalized the details of the program to support retailers who move downtown, which is part of an effort to make downtown more walkable and enticing to potential residents.
The DIA hopes to open the application process by April 1.
Through a food and beverage incentive program, the DIA is attempting to entice fine dining and fast casual restaurants, cafés, bakeries, craft brewers and distillers, bars, ice cream parlors and more.
The program targets two districts within downtown's urban core: the Elbow and the Laura/Hogan corridor.
DIA CEO Lori Boyer said she honed in on these districts because they neighbor city-owned parking garages, contain a mix of occupied and vacant retail space, complement her efforts to convert some one-way streets to two-way and could funnel pedestrians toward the Ford on Bay and the Landing.
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