CRA expands restaurant grant area to Downtown Mixed Use District

The CRA board approved changing the restaurant-grant program’s geographic eligibility from the small Downtown Main Street overlay to the broader Downtown Mixed Use District. Staff said the program has generated $951,500 in private reinvestment over five years while the CRA contributed $381,600 in grants, which staff described as roughly a 2.5-to-1 return on CRA investment.

“This is the Downtown Mixed Use District ... the reinvestment over the past five years is $951,500 and our grants totaled $381,600,” the staff member said when explaining why the program boundaries were proposed to expand. Board members asked whether changing the program’s name would itself increase past return calculations; staff clarified the change is about expanding applicability to a larger area so that more buildings — especially on Orange and Crystal avenues — become eligible for incentives. A motion to adopt the revised program area passed by roll call.