The
8 Mile Boulevard Association is taking applications for its newly launched façade-improvement grant program.
The program will give out $95,000 in grants to restore business facades along both sides of 8 Mile Road between John R Street and Ryan Road. About half a dozen businesses of the approximately 100 storefronts along that section of the corridor have already expressed interest in the program.
Tami Salisbury, executive director of the 8 Mile Boulevard Association, said the grants will hopefully help erase the perceptions of 8 Mile as a dividing line. The association chose that particular section of 8 Mile because it’s where Wayne, Macomb and Oakland counties meet. The grant program is also accompanied by improvements to the intersection at 8 Mile and Dequindre.
"Image is everything," Salisbury says. "Nobody wants to patronize a business that isn’t attractive. If we don’t change the physical landscape how do we change the mental landscape?"
Businesses participating in the program will receive free architectural consulting from Detroit-based
Hamilton Anderson Associates. The businesses will oversee the improvements and the 8 Mile Boulevard Association will review the project after it’s finished and reimburse 50 percent of the expenses up to $10,000.
The Community Foundation for Southeastern Michigan donated $50,000 to the program while the city of Detroit gave $35,000 and the 8 Mile Boulevard Association contributed $10,000.
For information, call (313) 366-3388 or visit eightmile.org.
Source: Tami Salisbury, executive director of the 8 Mile Boulevard Association.