Takoma Park Offers “Open for Business” Grants
by Sean Gossard
Takoma Park is open for business! And to help those businesses, the city is offering local entrepreneurs grants to relocate or expand their shops in the city.
Using funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), the city has allocated $119,157 to help local businesses.
“The city’s been really lucky that we had some ARPA money to help support small business in a way we haven’t before,” said acting Housing and Community Development Director Ira Kowler. “We’ve been able to leverage the ARPA dollars into grant programs.”
Applications for the grants opened at the end of January and will be available until the funds run out. Grants are capped at $10,000 per business. For ground-floor businesses outside of the Old Takoma commercial district, they may be funded at up to $6 per square foot. Any Old Town businesses, and upper-floor businesses elsewhere in Takoma Park, may be funded at up to $4 per square foot.
Businesses must be opening or expanding in Takoma Park, with an ownership deed or a signed lease of at least three years for the property with start date no earlier than Oct. 1, 2023; have not have received prior funding from the city; are in good standing with the State of Maryland; are in compliance with city, county and state
regulations; and have a valid Use & Occupancy Certificate.
“There’s a lot of expenses that go into growing or moving a business,” says Kowler. “The more flexible getting the money to people, the easier it is to use.”
The funds will come with no restrictions on their use and can be applied where most needed, “whether to support capital expenditures and hard costs related to new business fit-out, existing tenant improvements, or serve as a one-time subsidy to offset cost of lease,” according to the city’s website.
The grant program is the outgrowth of the city’s recent Business Investment Grant (BIG) program. The grant helped several businesses, including Cielo Rojo, a regionally recognized fine casual Mexican restaurant that has expanded to a new, larger location; Muoi Tieu, a former Vietnamese food truck that opened its first
permanent location in the former home of Mark’s Kitchen; and People’s Books, a locally owned bookstore in Old Takoma. It also helped A Plus Medical, a medical services provider in the Takoma-Langley Crossroads, and Healing Practice Center, a new wellness practice that has opened in the Professional Building on the Washington Adventist site.
For more information contact the City’s grants coordinator at grants@takomaparkmd.gov or 301-891-7235.
Access the full March Edition of the Takoma Park Newsletter here.
