Capital Improvement Grants for Small Businesses and Real Estate Developers in Van Ness

 

DC’s Great Streets programs is offering capital improvement grants for up to $85,000 for businesses on certain streets in DC, and Connecticut Ave NW is one of them. If your business is located on Connecticut Avenue NW between Macomb and Albemarle Streets, you may be eligible. According to the application guidelines, “there are two (2) types of eligible applicants as follows:

1. Owners of small retail or service-oriented businesses (preference will be given to businesses with less than 20 locations in the United States), or
2. Real estate developers that have secured one or more small retail or service-oriented businesses as tenants and propose to improve a property for these tenants”

Use the Grant to Green Your Building and Save Money in the Process

To help meet DC’s sustainability goals, and those of our neighborhood, we encourage local businesses to explore capital improvements that promote energy efficiency, increase renewable energy generation, mitigate stormwater runoff, and increase water conservation. Please consider the following ideas:

• Make weatherization improvements (insulation or windows) and replace older lighting systems or major appliances that use lots of energy
  Old windows and leaky buildings can make your heating and air conditioning systems work overtime. DC SEU has a program to help businesses make these improvements.
• Replace older HVAC systems with more efficient alternatives
  Are you using the most efficient technology, and are you keeping it calibrated correctly? According to the Small Business Association (SBA), Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) Systems can account for up to 40% of the electricity used in commercial buildings. Here are some tips from SBA to help you select and manage a more efficient HVAC system.
• Install solar PV or solar thermal systems
  Generating your own electricity with solar PV or heating your water through solar thermal energy can bring down your utility bills while helping reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. They might even be able to provide backup power in emergencies. Contact Skyline Innovations to look into solar thermal options, and visit our Green Business Directory to find Solar PV installers (see the energy section).
• Install a green roof or cisterns, or make landscaping improvements to reduce stormwater runoff
  In addition to the good you’ll be doing, these improvements can help you save money on your water bill. Read more in the Forest Hills Connection about DC incentives for stormwater runoff mitigation efforts.
• Install low-flow water fixtures
  According to this case study, LaGuardia Airport installed low-flow toilets, faucets, and showerheads in all of their restrooms, along with a leak detection system, for about $90,000. These improvements  resulted in an annual savings of $140,000. The system paid for itself in under 8 months.
• Purchase a trash compactor (if it makes sense)
  Trash compactors can be expensive to rent, but using a grant to purchase one upfront may make this an attractive prospect. Compactors can be used for landfill waste or recycling, and can hold many times more waste than standard dumpsters, reducing pickups. In addition, they are more difficult for rats to access. Contact a resource management consulting company like Great Forest to learn about solutions that make sense for your business or building.

See our Green Business Directory to find local companies that may be able to help you make those improvements, or feel free to reach out to us if you need ideas!

The application deadline is February 17th, so move quickly to make sure you have your cost estimates in place.