New Rochelle BID Awarded $500,000 For Improvements

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. – The New Rochelle Business Improvement District (BID) and the City of New Rochelle announced the receipt of a $500,000 grant through the New York State Main Street Grant program for the district’s BID Facade Improvement Program in front of the recently opened Baby’s Outlet store on Main Street, formerly the Palace Shoe Store.  

“New Rochelle’s downtown has a distinguished architectural past, which is fortunately being preserved as we restore the many historic buildings lining Main Street through our BID Facade Program,” said Marc Jerome, chairperson of the New Rochelle Business Improvement District. “The New York State Main Street Grant will enable the continued funding of this effort, which is a key component in our comprehensive strategy for further economic revitalization.”

The grant will fund the BID’s Façade Improvement Program and enable the continued restoration of historically significant building in the downtown district, according to city. The grant was secured through the support and assistance of elected officials at multiple levels of government, including New York State Assembly member Amy Paulin (D – District 88).

“The many owners who have invested in their properties and businesses in order to revitalize our downtown for the New Rochelle community are the real heroes,” said Ralph DiBart, executive director of the New Rochelle Business Improvement District. “It is because of their hard work that, despite the severe current recession, we continue to see new businesses and restaurants opening and private investment continuing to increase in downtown New Rochelle.”

The grant is also the third for the BID through the matching grant program that has assisted in façade restorations of more than 75 storefronts through the façade improvement program. The city also received two previous grants at $200,000 as part of overall efforts to improve the downtown business district.

The city said buildings with vacant upper floor space, helped create more than 40 artist work studios through the district’s Artist Spaces Program.

Baby Outlet store owner Chong Su Cho, who has Swan Cho as a store manager, said he is happy to be involved in the city’s BID district, and owner of a business in the city of New Rochelle other than his comparison of New Rochelle’s neighboring community of the Bronx.

“I’d stay here,” he said. “The Bronx is very dangerous to shop, but New Rochelle is not like that,” he said.

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