City may see grant effects soon

Gov. Beverly Perdue said on Thursday in Morganton that residents soon will see the effects of a $271,000 state grant for downtown business development.
Speaking to a crowd of about 150 people on West Union Street — only yards away from seven vacant store fronts — the governor expressed her confidence that Morganton can re-energize its downtown business district, just as New Bern did in the years after she moved there in the mid-1970s.
Among those in the crowd were people carrying signs such as "Save NCSD." While sign-language interpreters conveyed the governor's words to deaf people in the audience, Perdue also promised that the North Carolina School for the Deaf will remain here.
"We're going to save the school for the deaf," Perdue declared. "You can take it to the bank."
The governor arrived here about 2 p.m. for the second of three scheduled stops in cities who will receive a share of $1.95 million in N.C. Main Street Solutions money.
"These Main Street announcements are big news in a state that has a high unemployment rate," Perdue said, "and in an area like Morganton that's seeking to find out what you can do in your economy other than rely 100 percent on state employees and the state of North Carolina."
Perdue compared Morganton's situation today with New Bern's in the 1970s, where she moved in 1975. She said New Bern then was a small, rural, typically Southern community with an economy largely based on agriculture. What leaders there came to realize, she said, is "if we could rekindle the economy of our main street, then New Bern could change and we could have a lot of jobs and a lot of successes."
New Bern's leaders then, like Morganton's today, went to Raleigh and asked, "Could you help us?" They submitted an application and won a Main Street grant.
"We set down our vision," Perdue said, "... and because of 20 years of small-business people just like you, doing what you do along Main Street, New Bern is a hubbub of activity."
"Take it from somebody who has experienced it herself," Perdue said, "that once you come together, as you have come together as community, you're going to fill up these empty storefronts ... You're going to take the money and use it as a revolving loan fund that you're going to loan to businesses who are going to grow and they'll pay the money back and you'll loan it out to more. That's how New Bern grew and that's how you'll grow."
In the latest round of grant awards, Morganton is the only city using the state money to create a revolving loan fund, according to Liz Parham, director of the N.C. Office of Urban Development, who was part of the governor's entourage Thursday.
Sharon Jablonski of Main Street Morganton said the DIG (Downtown Incentive Grant) Challenge program will loan the money at 3.75 percent interest, deferring the first repayment for up to six months so new businesses can get their cash flow started.
Mayor Mel Cohen said the business owners must invest their own money in improvements before they can receive any DIG funds.
Jablonski said that if the businesses remain in operation for five years, 75 percent of the loan will be forgiven. Even so, she added, the fund is structured in such a way that it will be self-sustaining.
Eight small businesses and two downtown buildings that house some of the businesses will be the first grant recipients.
Perdue visited several businesses on a brief walking tour after her formal speech.
At the governor's first stop, The Grind Cafe, owners Teresa and Dave Reep said they plan to add equipment and make improvements on the second floor so the coffeehouse can expand its menu and also sell beer and wine. They will add four people to the staff, begin evening hours and feature live jazz performances several nights a week.
Across the street at the now-vacant Abbie Normalz building, Timberwoods Family Restaurant owner Phil Scarboro will open Mama Jane's Southern Seasonally Fresh named in honor of his late mother, Ellen "Mama Jane" Scarboro. It's expected to employ 20 people.
Down the block, the governor stopped at MESH Design Group's gallery whose owners, Joe Carey and Eliot Lytle, will create websites for the DIG Challenge loan recipients in exchange for a Main Street grant that allows MESH to hire an office and gallery manager.
Perdue also visited Yianni's Restaurant where owner Yianni Dimarhos plans to add an outdoor, 34-seat dining deck at the rear of 110 W. Union.
Other initial loan recipients are Jim and Dianna Murray, who soon will open Murray's Restaurant on Sterling Street, Sanja S. Whittington of Diva Strandz Hair and Wig, Kathy Bolton of Garden Gate and Benjie West of West Consultants.
In addition, loans will go to Ruth and Ed Jones for improvements in the building that houses Murray's Restaurant, to Hunting Creek Associates LLC for improvements at the Abbie Normalz/Mama Jane's building and to Ginny Erwin of Downtown Digs LLC for improvements at the building now housing Jake's Burgers.
Finally, the city itself will receive $40,000 for streetscape improvements, a facade improvement incentive program and general landscaping in the downtown district.
"This is Main Street recovery," Perdue concluded. "I'm real proud of you."
And she said she expects an invitation to revisit Morganton as soon as the new and expanding businesses are in operation.