DDA OKs loan for Vogue building
♦ Rome still leads the state in use of the revolving loan program.
The Downtown Development Authority approved a revolving fund loan to Cave Spring Trading Co. on Thursday for work at the Vogue building, 247 Broad St. The total value of the catering business-related renovations to convert the former retail space into a two-story special events center is estimated at $380,000.
City Commissioner Evie McNiece, the commission liaison to the DDA, said she learned at a recent Georgia Municipal Association board session that Rome still leads the state in Department of Community
Affairs and Georgia Cities Foundation loan projects.
“We are number one for the monies to do all this,” McNiece said. “Rome has the most loans and the most construction going on.”
The commissioner said the report to GMA leaders was that Rome had 19 projects that have been approved for financial assistance, easily the most in the state.
McNiece reminded many of the DDA board members, many of whom are new to the agency, that Rome was actually cut off from both of the loan programs a couple of years ago because of regulations that do not allow more than 15 percent of the DCA and GCF funds to be concentrated in any one city. Despite the abundance of loan activity still on the books, Rome has regained eligibility as the loan balances continue to be paid down.
DDA board members were briefed on plans to have a consultant from Nelson/Nygaard in Rome, in conjunction with the Downtown Saturday event on Sept. 1, to get public input into what the community would like to see developed in the new River District, along the North Fifth Avenue and West Third Street corridors. The consultants will have a booth set up in front of the temporary DDA office in the Rome Area History Museum, 305 Broad St.