Businesses in the Addison South TIF district are encouraged to apply for Small Business Improvement Funds (SBIF) through the city’s designated handling company, SomerCor.
Applications are open until November 30, 2016. The TIF district covers parts of Logan Square, Avondale, and North Center. Use Chicago Cityscape’s Address Snapshot tool to determine if your business is located in this, or any, TIF.
Applications (download here) may be faxed to 312–757–4371 or emailed to a member of the SBIF team, including Joe Lewis, who you can contact at jlewis@somercor.com or 312–360–3329.
The SBIF program rules has details to make sure your application includes improvement plans that are eligible for funding. Plans are for reimbursements, only.
North Branch Works shared some examples of what kinds of projects are eligible for SBIF grants:
Just for some ideas, a recently completed SBIF grant helped install and update electrical, plumbing, and HVAC systems, repair masonry, install an overhead door, and build out the interior for production and office space among other facility improvements.
There are 204 licensed businesses currently in the Addison South TIF district. The plurality of businesses are retail food shops — grocery stores, bodegas, Walgreens and CVS. The next most common business categories are home repair services, miscellaneous manufacturing, wholesale food sales, and hazardous materials use or storage.
Certain business categories are excluded from the SBIF program, including chains and franchises, bank branches, currency exchanges and pay-day loan stores, adult-oriented businesses (night clubs and liquor stores), and hotels and motels.
Renovating vacant property to bring it into rentable condition is encouraged, but new construction isn’t eligible.