News March 2, 2017
Façade RENEW Wins 2017 Louisiana Landmark Society Award
Façade RENEW, a commercial business development grant program, provides 3:1 reimbursable grants designed to incentivize commercial property and small business owners to preserve and revitalize their buildings. The program operates along four historic commercial corridors: Bayou Road, Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard, Old Gentilly Road and St. Claude Avenue.
Façade RENEW received a 2017 Award for Excellence in Historic Preservation Order by the Louisiana Landmark Society. Each of these awards honor projects completed in Orleans Parish in 2016 which represent outstanding examples of restoration or rehabilitation of historic buildings.
An ongoing grant program since 2014, Façade RENEW is a collaboration between the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority, Clio Associates, LLC, and Small Center. Façade ReNEW is designed to spur redevelopment along portions of four historic commercial corridors in New Orleans: Bayou Road, Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard, St. Claude Avenue, and Alcee Fortier Boulevard. The program offers façade improvement grants for individual buildings and placemaking grants to main street associations. Clio Associates LLC worked directly with Small Center to provide 30 hours of technical design assistance for each of the grant applicants. This 3-year pilot program represents an investment of over $1.5 million toward revitalizing these commercial corridors. The program has surpassed its participation goals and NORA is currently seeking additional funds to offer the grants to other key historic corridors.
