10 façade projects spruce up Sinking Spring, leverage $50,000 from state

by Steve Reinbrecht

Ruth Weber saw a notice in Sinking Spring’s newsletter about a façade-improvement program and ended up getting a $3,200 grant to paint her house.

She would have had to do the job in any case, but the grant was a big help to maintain the house she’s lived in since 1969 at 4306 Penn Ave. It has lots of trim, and the painters needed to bring in a lift for part of the job.

All together, the borough of Sinking Spring has helped fix up 10 homes and businesses, leveraging about $50,000 from the state’s Keystone Façade Grants program. Five projects are underway. And nine owners are getting estimates.

The property owners match each dollar they get from the state.

The borough has spent the $50,000 limit. In December, Borough Council resolved to apply for another $50,000 state grant.

Kim Shrom, office manager of Express Care & Lube at 3705 Penn Ave., also saw a notice about the program in the borough newsletter.

“We were in drastic need of a façade improvement,” she said.

She painted the exterior of the auto-service station with her $1,280 grant. The property owner, John Kishbaugh, got a grant to help install insulated garage doors on all five bays.

The business would not have been able to afford the work without the grant, she said.

And customers have noticed the improvements and told her it makes the place look clean and reputable.

The borough’s revitalization committee runs the façade-improvement program as part of its BOSS 2020 revitalization plans, which call for straightening intersections, laying a new street parallel to Penn Avenue to ease traffic congestion, and building homes and shops.

Kim Updegraff used her grant for power cleaning, painting and a new sign for her business, Shade Tree Interiors, at 3461 Penn Ave. She bought the building in July 2015 as a showroom for the custom window-treatments business she’s run for 13 years. She got estimates from contractors she had used before.

Updegraff had considered opening her business in West Reading, but chose Sinking Spring because taxes and rents are lower and parking is easier.

According to a University of Wisconsin study:

  

  As a result of storefront improvement projects:

•     Business operators generally experience an increase in number of first-time customers.
•     Many but not all business operators experience an increase in sales.
•         Property landlords generally generate increased rental revenues.
•         Properties are often converted to a perceived better use.·
•         Other building improvements, including interior redesign, are often performed simultaneously. 
•     Even small investments can generate significant returns.
•         Multiple funding sources are often assembled to cover project costs.
•         Property owners generally believe that their building value has increased.
•         Nearby businesses often enjoy increased sales and initiate their own storefront improvements.
•        Community pride, historic appreciation, and civic legacy are celebrated.