Note: the City no longer has funding for a facade program. The following info provides some background on how the facade program was managed. There is a chance the City will apply for more facade funding, via grants, in the future so stay tuned!
The City is moving forward with its formal facade challenge grant program by providing "50/50" matching grants of up to $5,000 on a reimbursement basis for each building in the program that undertakes work. For example, John Smith wants to fix up the exterior of his building - it needs the brickwork cleaned up and a new sign. This work will cost $7,000. John must put $3,500 into the project and the City will contribute $3,500.
The building owners have been required to work with the City's staff and design consultants in order to assure the "look" the City is aiming for. The work in many cases has required the issuance of a Certificate of Appropriateness from the City's Historic Preservation Commission.
The program took shape after the City of Gardiner's architect, Douglas Richmond Architects of Brunswick, received the completed Building Envelope Assessment for Gardiner's Downtown Historic District from Simpson, Gumpertz & Heger Inc., a sub-consultant based in Arlington, Massachusetts.
The Building Envelope Assessment provided a systematized documentation of general observations regarding the condition of each individual building's walls, windows, doors, and roofs, including a "condition rating" from "1" for immediately required repairs to "5" for no observed deficiencies. In some cases, recommendations were included for repairing, replacing, or removing features that detract from the aesthetic or historic nature of the building facade.
The information collected in the Building Envelope Assessment has been very useful in the subsqequent implementation of the formal facade challenge grant program, especially in identifying buildings that are strong candidates for participation.
Christopher Paszyc, Gardiner's (former) Development Director, solicited all of the Downtown Historic District business and building owners to find parties interested in free design assistance and grants for repairs and improvements to the outsides of their buildings.
Interested building owners completed Formal Facade Challenge Grant Application Forms and worked with Douglas Richmond Architects over the winter to agree on general design ideas and develop specific scopes of work for each of twenty-six buildings. Of these, twenty-one were selected to be funded in "Round One" of the Facade Grant program. The other five buildings had remaining issues to be resolved with the City's Historic Preservation Commission and were selected for "Round Two" so that City staff can work with their owners to address those concerns.
Of the twenty-one buildings in Round One, six remain in a group that is seeking an economy of scale by putting their work out to bid collectively. The rest are hiring their own contractors.
By coordinating facade improvements for both the Arcade Parking Lot and Water Street, in conjunction with working with the Downtown Manager, we can accomplish the types of renovations that will make the buildings both more attractive and economically advantageous to small businesses.
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