Jason Peters moved into a small garage three months ago at
“It was very, very important to have a good face to look at,” Peters said. “On this little street, it was one of the worst looking buildings.”
The grant Peters got is just one of 14 downtown grants awarded by the Community Redevelopment Agency.
Some of the grants given out through the CRA are for much more.
“It’s wonderful to have a new roof,” Elegant Antiques owner Jane Lindsey said. “We had 50 or 60 buckets up stairs. We had to close off that floor.”
Lindsey said, if not for the roof, she would have had to move the business away from downtown.
Community Redevelopment Agency Director William Whitson said Thomas Fickling would have had to bulldoze his building at 447
“What’s the price tag for your history?” he said.
Whitson believes these improvements big and small are crucial for turning the tide for downtown.
“It’s like the ocean,” Whitson said. “The gulf stream, the tidal activity, there’s multiple factors working all at the same time that shape the community.”
These businesses, and their buildings, do not exist in a vacuum. Whitson described the ricochet effect he intended for the program. With one business applying a coat of paint and putting up new awnings, it attracted other business owners to the program. With more businesses in the program, the entire look of downtown improves.
“How important is it?” Panama City Development Group owner John Darrah said. “Just look at the buildings on any busy street. It’s the expectation of what you’ll get when you get in the door.”
Whitson also pointed out an internal ricochet effect with Darrah as an example. Darrah received a grant of $4,900 for façade and awning improvements.
“In my opinion, it made a hell of a lot of difference,” Darrah said. “It would probably still be sitting there in its other state. It got me focused on the building. Tearing off all the stucco, I figured out I needed new windows. The amount of the grant was a big help, but it really was an incentive to get it going.”
The aesthetic improvement automatically paid dividends for Darrah. He has a string of office locations at 223 through
The Drew Station is another example. Michael Drew received $13,000 for façade improvements. He is in the process of undertaking a $130,960 renovation at
To Christine Stringer, the $6,073 grant she received for her business Avenue Sea might be the difference between surviving and thriving. Stringer happened to move into her location at
“I took a double whammy,” she said. “I went into my personal savings. I was that interested in survival.”
By being conservative with her merchandise and creative marketing, wine tastings being something to bring customers in the store, Stringer feels she is turning the corner. With the improvements she has made to the exterior, with shutters and a crows nest above the window and a new sign, she has seen an increase in business.
“I’m very optimistic right now,” she said.
Whitson has heard arguments against this program: that a government-funded agency should not be in the business of helping for-profit businesses. He believes that a downtown that looks nice will attract bigger businesses and bring even more prosperity to the city.
“For a new developer, it makes them feel better about investing dollars,” he said.