Effort launched to improve business districts
Local entrepreneurs eligible for grants to fix up buildings
A group of nonprofit and business leaders are launching a campaign to redevelop central city commercial districts near downtown Milwaukee.
Known as “Ramp Up,” the effort is starting with a $200,000 investment from JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s PRO Neighborhoods initiative.
Ramp Up aims to spark the revitalization of vacant and underused commercial properties on Milwaukee’s north side and near south side.
It will provide grants to renovate building facades and interiors, with a focus on local entrepreneurs instead of “outside developers.” That’s according to a statement issued Wednesday by JPMorgan Chase and Local Initiatives Support Corp., a national nonprofit group that helps economic development efforts.
The project’s initial phase includes developing and matching small businesses with “pop-up” retail sites.
The grants will be be funded through JP Morgan Chase, the city and business improvement districts that operate in the affected neighborhoods.
Those districts are centered on N. King Drive, between W. McKinley Blvd. and W. Locust St.; on W. North Ave., between N. 8th and N. 27th streets and W. Fond du Lac Ave. between N. 17th and N. 27th streets; and S. Chavez Drive, between W. National Ave. and W. Lapham Blvd.
The districts raise money through extra assessments on commercial properties in those neighborhoods.
Local Initiatives Support Corp. will provide technical assistance to the districts and property owners, and will provide additional financing for some projects.
Also, nonprofit business lender Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corp. will help identify and match small businesses and artists wellsuited for the commercial districts.
The goal is to set up 12 to 15 pop-up shops, where retail entrepreneurs can test their projects, in the three commercial districts over the next year.
Pop-up model
The affordable pop-up model activates vacant spaces and can lead to longer term stores
and other small retail businesses.
The campaign includes a new Milwaukee branch of Mortar, a minority business accelerator, which operates six pop-up locations in Cincinnati.
The Milwaukee Mortar program will be based at the African American Chamber of Commerce, 633 W. Wisconsin Ave., in a partnership with the Milwaukee Urban League and Local Initiatives Support Corp.
The pilot project also is intended to lay the groundwork for larger initiatives similar to Detroit’s Motor City Match program.
Motor City Match is a business plan competition sponsored by Detroit Economic Growth Corp., a nonprofit group.
It offers business planning courses, free architectural services, loans totaling $2 million and grants totaling $500,000 during each competitive round, which occur four times a year. The program targets startups and expanding small businesses.
It was launched in 2015 and is funded with foundation grants as well as federal Community Development Block Grants provided through the city.
“Just as development capital has flowed to downtown opportunities, our goal is to unlock talent and encourage capital investment flow to adjacent cultural commercial corridors that are gateways to neighborhoods and the lifeblood of an urban community,” Donsia Strong Hill, executive director of Local Initiatives Support Corp.’s Milwaukee operation, said in a statement.