Mortgage added to facade grant

Contracts for downtown property owners participating in Portland’s façade grant program are now a little more ironclad.
Members of the Portland Downtown Façade Funding Committee announced Monday that contracts for grant funds now include a five-year real estate mortgage.
Properties improved by grant funds cannot be sold for five years after the work is complete. If the property is sold within the time frame, the grant funds must be repaid, with 20 percent forgiven each year. Adding a mortgage ensures that the grant funds are repaid. If a property is sold after the five-year limit, the mortgage is released.
City attorney Bill Hinkle suggested the mortgage be added to ensure that property owners repay the grant funds.
“This is just collateral to protect the city,” Hinkle told the committee.
In a related matter, a request by a property owner to be exempt from signing the mortgage agreement was denied by the committee.
Brian Rippey, the owner of properties at 113 and 115 N. Meridian St., made the request because he has been awarded the smallest amounts of grant funds to replace the windows and doors of his building. He will receive matching funds of $1,295 for each project.
“These are the guidelines and that’s part of the process,” said committee member Bruce Hosier, who also is the city’s mayor.
The mortgage clause was added in June outside of a committee meeting.
Rippey has not yet signed the grant contract.
In other business Monday, committee members were updated on the progress of projects awarded grant funds.
Kristi Sturtz, who serves as an advisor to the committee, said work has begun at the Tire Center, 421 N. Meridian St.; White Linen Hall, 121 N. Meridian St.; and Kessler’s Sports Shop, 216 N. Meridian St.
Officials with the Fraternal Order of the Eagles, 320 N. Meridian St., are still searching for an architect to design the new balcony, Sturtz said.
Work at some of the other businesses will begin this fall, she said.
Property owners have six months to complete the work, once the grant contracts have been signed, Sturtz said. Most of the contracts were signed in the past few weeks she said.[[In-content Ad]]