for profitable redevelopment. Preserving that character helps create what Harlan refers to as “complete communities,” meaning neighborhoods with a wide range of services accessible by foot and bike to a diverse range of people and incomes. “We want to make sure that the businesses that are there now can afford to be there in the future,” she says. To do that, the city has created a zoning overlay that preserves existing light-industrial uses while also allowing dense mixed- residential developments. Meanwhile, the city’s Core Area Business Assistance Program supports businesses in the district looking to make internal and external improvements that would enhance the aesthetics of the area and improve customer experience, such as new signage or upgraded spaces. The program includes ways for business owners to get design help through grants ranging from $5,000 to $7,500. A second track offers grants up to $50,000 to offset construction costs. Another program, the Core Area Development Assistance Program, creates a pool of about $800,000 that can be awarded through grants and loans to help speed up housing and mixed-use projects. The first round of funding is on track to be awarded in November. “What I think is really smart and great about this is how it’s meant to counter some of the gentrification and displacement that can happen with urban renewal,” Harlan says. “You want that character. As a business owner in the district told me, that diversity is what gives a neighborhood its patina.” For the moment, though, the neighborhood is less weathered copper and more flaky rust. Challenges to its transformation remain with high construction costs, unfavorable interest rates and scores of small lots that make largescale development difficult. Homelessness and security concerns add to the issues. To complicate matters, the city recently purchased the Rainbow Motel on Franklin Avenue with plans to convert it into a low-barrier shelter, at least temporarily. (Rumors abound that one day that shelter site could Rainbow Motel Campfire Hotel Franklin Avenue N.E. 3rd Street This new 8,000-square-foot building, shared by DVA Advertising and Imagine Stoneworks, deploys the model city planners seek by combining manufacturing and office spaces. Kirk Schueler plans to redevelop this property on Franklin Avenue with Taylor Development. The new, 14,000-square-foot co-working space and headquarters for Sunlight Solar, which owns the building. To its right sits the salvaged building that formerly housed Spoken Moto. 31
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