Covington Board of Commissioners approves six incentives as element of Modest Business enterprise System

An ancient wellness care practice that supplies continuous emotional and informational help to females ahead of, through, and soon after childbirth, and a constructing that housed a mid-1800s pharmacy as effectively as the Covington Masons had been amongst six companies offered economic assistance by the Covington Board of Commissioners.

The Commission authorized 3 rent-subsidy and 3 façade-improvement incentives by way of the City’s internationally recognized Modest Business enterprise System.

The incentives came through the fourth round of funding this fiscal year beneath the system, which sets aside $150,000 a year in 3 locations — assisting fledgling companies with initially-year rent and industrial home owners upgrade their exteriors or restore an historic electric enterprise sign.

“This is the fifth round of Modest Business enterprise Incentives I’ve worked on due to the fact beginning my position final March, and the wide variety of companies and buildings in no way ceases to impress me,” stated Covington Assistant Financial Improvement Director Sarah Allan. “This round is no various, with recipients ranging from a burgeoning wellness-connected enterprise that supports new parents to the reimagining of a constructing that was historically property to a Masonic Lodge. The possibilities in Covington to develop a enterprise are infinite.”

The awards:

(Photo from City of Covington

Rent Subsidies:

• $five,070 to Doulas of Cincinnati, a lady-owned one of a kind wellness-connected enterprise giving solutions to pregnant females that has a regional developing market place share. The enterprise aligns with the City’s target sector of “A Healthier You.”

• $six,000 to Rivertown Vintage at two W. Pike Street, a lady-owned vintage clothes retailer that focuses on men’s clothes, situated in the Central Business enterprise District.

• $six,000 to Skoolaid LLC, a one of a kind educational enterprise at 800 Church St. in Latonia that focuses on growing the physical wellness, mental effectively-becoming, and independence of kids and seniors, along with spreading understanding of kindness by way of its disability awareness presentations.

Façade Incentives:

• $six,000 to Covington 6th Street COA toward a $26,700 façade project at 201-203 W. 6th St. that will include things like painting, windows, lighting, and tuckpointing. The constructing is in the Old Town/Mutter Gottes neighborhood.

• $six,000 to Felicity Properties LLC toward a $13,860 façade project at 404 W. Pike St. that will include things like painting. The constructing is in MainStrasse Village.

• $six,000 to Covington Commandery LLC toward $63,959 in exterior improvements at 401 Scott St. that will include things like painting, windows, lighting, and rebuilding of the storefront. The constructing is in the Central Business enterprise District.

Orleans Improvement owner Tony Kreutzjans stated the façade grant funds are “essential” to the restoration of the constructing on Scott Street, which has a lengthy and varied history in Covington.

“401 Scott has been underutilized for decades,” Kreutzjans stated. “It’s a cornerstone constructing in the Scott Street corridor, and we’re excited to breathe some life into it. Restoring the storefront to its original height and style will be transformational. The City’s façade grant is crucial to this piece of the project.”

The constructing was constructed in 1865 by Charles Fechter, a druggist/pharmacist through his lifetime. Kreutzjans stated later deeds label the constructing as “Fecter’s Corner,” with the initially floor occupied by Fechter’s drug retailer and the upper floors occupied by the Covington Masons. For additional than one hundred years – from 1865 by way of the mid-1970s – the initially floor remained a pharmacy. The faint remains of the word “Pharmacy” is on the storefront’s upper transom, and an intact shower space is on the third floor, which was after a health club. The Center for Fantastic Neighborhoods occupied the second-floor offices through the late ‘70s.

“We also found it was an art gallery in the ‘90s. It actually had a myriad of utilizes,” stated Kreutzjans. “I assume we have all passed this constructing a thousand occasions, but subsequent time you are on foot, notice all of the Masonic symbols that are in the center of the stone trim on the upper floor windows. It was one particular of my preferred discoveries of the constructing.”

Organizations interested in applying for either the façade, historic electric sign, or rent help incentives need to speak to Sarah Allan at 859-292-2144 or sarah.allan@covingtonky.gov. For info, see applications and recommendations.

Involving 2017 and 2023, the system has assisted 128 companies or projects (not counting 58 COVID-connected Modest Business enterprise Emergency Grants) … supported 36 companies with females, veteran, or Black owners … leveraged practically $7.three million of private investment … helped generate or retain more than five,800 jobs … and impacted just beneath 470,000 square feet of vacant industrial space that has been filled or enhanced.

In 2021, the system received an award from the International Financial Improvement Council, the world’s biggest organization of improvement specialists.

City of Covington