WESTMINSTER : Free Design Service Offered Merchants

The Redevelopment Agency is providing local businesses with free architectural services in a store-rehabilitation program, hoping to spur merchant participation in a city effort that has so far received only a lukewarm response.

The Storefront Rebate Program, introduced last year, offers financial assistance to merchants in specified redevelopment areas who want to give their buildings a face lift.

Assistant City Manager Donald S. Anderson said the city hopes to upgrade buildings that are outdated or in need of repair.

“This program was initiated due to the realization that much of the city was developed in the 1950s and 1960s and we’re now into the 1990s,” Anderson said. “In some cases, the building owner or tenant hasn’t done any remodeling or rebuilding because they just didn’t have the money.”

The program offers rebates of 50% to 75% for improvements ranging from a new coat of paint and new signs to new awnings and outside landscaping.

To provide further incentive, the agency voted this week to provide up to $2,500 worth of free architectural design services to businesses that decide to join the program.

Anderson said without the free design services, there would probably be little interest in the program from the business community.

“We think providing the designs is really going to help. This way, they can see what their building can look like, it’s at no cost to them and they are under no obligation to proceed,” Anderson explained.

The stretch of older commercial buildings along Westminster Boulevard near Golden West Street is the type of area that the city wants to upgrade.

“We’re anxious to get this program off the ground,” Anderson said. “It’s good for the business community and it’s good for the city.”