Local business reaps benefits from city’s façade grant

Published 5:45 pm Monday, March 13, 2017

By Zachary Price

AMERICUS — If you’ve driven or walked around downtown Americus, you’ve probably noticed the fresh coat of paint on the Kinnebrew Company building. This is thanks to the new Americus Main Street Façade Improvement Program, which is a grant program offered by the city. The program offers technical and financial assistance to help downtown businesses restore or renovate the exterior of their buildings. The financial assistance comes in the form of a 50/50 matching grant paid to the business and property owners after the work is completed.
The Kinnebrew Company took advantage of the grant to give the outside of its building a fresh coat of paint. Owner Hulme Kinnebrew said the city did a good job informing him of the program and explaining the process he had to go through to qualify for the grant. The process was actually fairly simple, since all he had to do was request the forms and fill them out. Then it was just a matter of getting a few estimates and starting the work.
The Kinnebrew Company contracted Creative Painters to do the work, and Kinnebrew seemed quite pleased with the quality of Creative Painters’ work. The customers also seemed to be really impressed with the quality of the work, and seemed to like the freshly painted building. Kinnebrew didn’t have any complaints about the grant program, and said that he “is proud of the way Americus has come along.”