CLEVELAND, May 18, 2006 - Mayor Frank G. Jackson joins Daryl P. Rush, Director of the City’s Department of Community Development, and 45 Cleveland business and property owners this evening to acknowledge their successful participation in Cleveland’s 2005 Storefront Renovation Program. A total of 51 storefront renovation projects were completed within the City’s neighborhood commercial retail districts in calendar year 2005. The public-private investment made in the program last year totaled $2.8 million.

The 11th Annual Cleveland Storefront Renovation Program Awards Ceremony, an invitation-only event, is being held this evening in the English Oak Room, Tower City Center with a reception at 5:00 p.m. and the program starting at 6:00 p.m.

The event draws more than 150 people representing Cleveland’s Community Development Corporations (CDCs), who administer the Storefront Program with City staff, and Cleveland area bank and foundation representatives. This is also the 11th year that Chase, formerly Bank One, has fully sponsored the much anticipated annual event.

“Tonight, we not only celebrate completely renovated commercial buildings in our neighborhood retail districts and downtown, but also the diversity of small businesses assisted last year through this program. From a Laundromat and a dry cleaning center, to a lounge, beauty shop and a neighborhood hardware store and restaurants” said Mayor Jackson. “These projects are examples of the hard working, small businesses that improve our neighborhoods and make Cleveland a City of choice.”

“The Storefront Renovation Program is a vital tool in the redevelopment of Cleveland and I thank you, the property owners and small business owners, for choosing it to assist you in the significant investments you have made in your properties and our neighborhoods. I also want to thank Chase for continuing the sponsorship of this important event that publicly acknowledges the hard work, commitment and significant investment of Cleveland’s commercial property and business owners,” added Mayor Jackson.

Fifty-one projects encompassing 25 participating neighborhoods were completed in 2005. These projects were comprised of 74 units. The City’s nearly $700,000 in loans and rebates were matched by more than $2.1 million in private investments. Within those completed storefronts, the businesses employ 194 full-time workers of which 82 are Cleveland residents. Additionally, 122 part-time employees work in the storefronts, of which 65 are Cleveland residents.

In 2005, the Cleveland Storefront Renovation Program created 318 temporary construction jobs for those contractors who worked on the projects.

The Storefront Program’s goal is to assist property owners and businesses in comprehensively rehabilitating the exterior surfaces of existing neighborhood retail buildings. The objective is to improve the economic and aesthetic conditions of the neighborhood commercial district, enabling these retail areas to remain competitive in a regional market.

The City offers Storefront Program applicants financial assistance in the form of rebates or low interest loans as well as free design and technical assistance, and works in coordination with the neighborhood Community Development Corporations (CDCs).

Since 1983, when the Storefront Program was first established, 1,222 projects have been completed, with a total of more than $17 million in City assistance leveraging almost $45 million in private investment.

For more information on the Cleveland Storefront Renovation Program and/or a listing of the award winners, please log onto www.cleveland-oh.gov or call 216-664-4597.