Main Street Revitalization Program Includes Loan Option

(KNSI) – The Main Street Revitalization Program has received a second round of funding for matching grants, but that’s not the only way it could potentially help businesses in Saint Cloud’s downtown area.

The Initiative Foundation will be administering the program. Vice President for Community and Workforce Development Don Hickman says guaranteed loans are another option. He doesn’t expect them to be as popular with applicants because they will eventually have to be paid back. Still, he believes some loans will be used in a support package.

Hickman explains the role his organization plays in the process. He stresses that the Initiative Foundation is not trying to usurp area lenders. “We are a community development financial institution which means we can lend as a charitable activity. We don’t want to compete with local banks, but if a bank can meet part of the need but wants us to come in in the second position, we’re happy to do that,” he says.

Saint Cloud businesses will see around a million dollars in grant funding. Hickman says he hopes the Herberger Building is part of the proposals. The Initiative Foundation may combine loans and grants so that such a large project doesn’t use most of the money available for the entire historic district. The area affected runs from the Paramount Center for the Arts into Benton County and East Saint Cloud.

“If it got to that conversation, we’d get everyone in the room, or on Zoom, and figure out what confederation meets the needs of the business,” Hickman says.

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