San Diego creates Storefront Grant Improvement Programs
The Storefront Grant Improvement Program (SIP) was created in 1986 and is designed to enhance and revitalize older commercial neighborhoods throughout the City of San Diego. As part of a comprehensive approach to small business assistance and neighborhood revitalization, the City of San Diego will rebate small businesses or property owners as an incentive for them to improve their storefronts consistent with design standards for their commercial areas.
The Storefront Improvement Program stimulates private investment and customer patronage in the City’s commercial districts by focusing on revitalizing building façades visible to customers, neighboring merchants, and residents.
Program Goals
Program Rebates
Eligible Criteria
Program Exclusions
Council Policy 900-17
Procedures and Application
Program Goals
The goals of the Storefront Improvement Program are to:
Work in partnership with the private sector to stimulate private investment in the City’s commercial neighborhoods
Generate additional revitalization by focusing the investment on visible improvements
Beautify the districts so that they positively reflect on neighboring residential areas
Increase business by generally making the district more attractive
In doing so, the City has instituted some basic design parameters, which include:
Respect for the original features of the building including the use of color and suitable materials
Limiting additional signage by incorporating it into the building’s design
Use of suitable landscaping that will aid in the preservation of community scale and character
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Program Rebates
The City of San Diego offers three different rebate options through the SIP:
Standard Projects: rebates the applicant for one-third of the construction costs up to a maximum of $5,000.
Historic Projects: rebates the applicant for one-half of the construction costs up to a maximum of $7,500. To qualify for the historic rebate incentive, the subject property must be designated by the City’s Historic Resources Board as a historic structure and either classified as a contributing structure to a historic district or included on a locally defined historic building inventory. Furthermore, improvements must be consistent with the historical character of the property.
Multiple Tenant Building Projects: rebates property owners with a commercial building that leases to multiple small business tenants up to a maximum of $10,000. Large office buildings in excess of 80,000-square-feet are excluded from the program.
Eligible Criteria
The Storefront Improvement Program will accept applications from small businesses (with 12 or fewer employees) and property owners who lease space to small businesses. All applicants must possess a valid City of San Diego Business Tax Certificate.
The City’s Office of Small Business administers the program and selects projects that provide the greatest public benefit to commercial districts in need of revitalization. Each application is subject to review for eligibility. The SIP Program Manager considers one or all of the factors listed below:
Current condition of the building/façade
Complements City’s public improvement strategies
Community need/demand for change
Neighborhood code compliance issues
Conformity to community design guidelines
Creative value of the project
Program Exclusions
National franchises, large office buildings in excess of 80,000-square-feet, residential rental buildings (apartments), home-based businesses, government owned and occupied buildings, churches and other religious institutions.
Example Renderings
The following are examples of Storefront Improvement Program Renderings:
Tops Cleaners
Bahia Don Bravo
Robinson Property
The purpose of the Council Policy is to establish guidelines and procedures regarding the application process, selection process, design process, reimbursement process and fees associated with the administration of the SIP.
Program Procedures and Application
For more information about the Storefront Improvement Program procedures or to learn more about the Grant application process, please contact the Storefront Improvement Program at (619) 533-7408. Visit Government-Grant.biz
$40,000
AjA Project in Community Heights
For equipment to support this project, in which refugee youth learn to express themselves through photography, alleviating the sense of despair, loss and alienation that many of them experience, and fostering a sense of belonging in their
new community
$28,000
Eveoke Dance Theater: Young Artists Program
To expand a program in which promising young amateurs supplement the work of professionals in this award-winning dance company, with the goal of fostering social action through arts education
www.eveoke.org
$17,000
La Jolla Playhouse: Enriching Children’s Lives Through Theater
To bring high-quality theater experiences to local schools, to give children the opportunity to write and perform their own plays and to provide theater training for teachers
www.lajollaplayhouse.com
$37,000
San Diego Museum of Art: Outreach and Family Festivals
For after-school arts programs in community centers followed by festivals that bring schoolchildren and their families to the museum, making the arts accessible to economically disadvantaged people
$50,000
San Diego Opera: Pre-Opening Student Performances
To help cover the expense of pre-opening opera performances for schoolchildren, the culmination of a classroom program that exposes students to all aspects of opera
$41,000
San Diego Symphony: Sound Connections Project
To launch an innovative program that will engage schoolchildren in the concert experience and help them understand the creative process and the relationship between music and other art forms
$27,000
Sushi Performance & Visual Art: Artists Advisory Board Showcase Concerts
To identify, support and present outstanding emerging choreographers and performance artists from the San Diego/Tijuana region to arts audiences, patrons and professionals.
