The
Detroit Economic Growth Association approved up to $283,000 in grants for three businesses -- Tim Hortons, Passport Pizza and office headquarters for Shelborne Development -- under
the auspices of its Jefferson Avenue Retail Readiness Program. The grants are expected
to leverage more than $600,000 in new private investment along E. Jefferson Ave.
Tim
Hortons will open this August at 7201 E. Jefferson Ave. at East Grand
Boulevard in the former Starbuck's Coffee across from the MacArthur Bridge to Belle Isle. It will
create approximately 25 new jobs and will be Tim Hortons'
second location in Detroit. The grant funds will defray half of the cost of
remodeling the interior, installing awnings and making other exterior improvements.
Passport
Pizza will open its second franchise in the city at 2636 E.
Jefferson Ave., just east of Chene. The grant funds will be used for an
interior build-out for the 1,500-square-foot restaurant. The pizzeria is expected to hire 10.
Last but not least, the Book House Building at 8443-45 E. Jefferson Ave. will be rehabbed for the offices of Shelborne
Development. The DEGA monies will fund half the cost of making
interior and exterior repairs to the vacant building; parking lot and site improvements are also part
of the project. Shelborne
plans to relocate to the ground floor of the building in late 2009 and rent second floor office space out to an additional tenant.
Read more about the
Jefferson Avenue Retail Readiness Program here and previous program grantees here and here.
Source: Detroit Economic Growth Corporation
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh
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