Under contract with the Village of Union Grove, the Racine County Economic Development Corporation has developed a window cling program to advertise the availability of properties, both for sale and for rent, in downtown Union Grove.
Over the next few weeks, window clings will be installed in the front windows of four vacant downtown properties through this project. The goal is to fill vacant storefronts with new businesses and to help attract buyers to those buildings that are for sale.
Over the past few months Tina Chitwood, Community Development Manager of RCEDC, has assisted the Village’s Community Development Authority (CDA) through the process of creating the window cling program.
Other partners include Greg Wall, Associate Vice President and Marketing Director at Community State Bank, Union Grove, who provided the artwork for the project, and Acme Office Equipment, Union Grove, which provided printing for the project.
“A major activity of the CDA has historically been to fill vacant storefronts in downtown Union Grove. RCEDC prepares a bi-monthly update of buildings and land for sale and for rent in the Village, and our two groups realized there was a large number of buildings that either didn’t have signage indicating their availability to the public, or the signage was in such a condition that it wasn’t readable.”, explained Teresa Holm, who chairs the CDA.
The window cling idea was derived from an idea shared by Village President Michael Aimone after his trip to a community in south central Wisconsin which had murals and catchy phrases painted on the inside of their vacant storefront windows to catch the attention of prospective business tenants.
The Union Grove project partners landed on the idea of catchy phrases that were easy to see from the road printed over bold graphics to catch the attention of those passing by.
Example window clings read: “Grow Your Business Here,” “Wanted! Your Business.” “$500 Reward,” “BUY ME” and “If you rent this space you’d be at work already!” – to name a few.
Window clings will be purchased by the CDA and installed on a temporary basis (60 days) and rotating schedule among the four properties to comply with the Village’s temporary signage ordinance.
There are currently 16 properties located in downtown Union Grove (portions of Main Street and Highway 11 that are located within Tax Incremental District 4) which are available for sale or for rent.
Each of these 16 property owners and their realtors were contacted to participate in the window cling program. Additionally, these groups were provided with information regarding all of the programs the Village has to offer downtown building owners and tenants such as the $5,000 Façade Grant, $300 per month Rent Assistance Grant, and $500 Referral Award programs.
More information about these programs can be found on the Community Development page of the Village’s website at www.uniongrove.net.
Downtown business owners can place their “LOOK DOWNTOWN” window cling order today. Acme Office Equipment will take orders for window clings. The cost is $40 for a 24-inch diameter cling. To place an order contact Gregg at (262) 878-3553 or acmeoffice@gmail.com.
For more information on the Downtown Union Grove Window Cling Program and the LOOK DOWNTOWN Window Cling program, contact Tina Chitwood at (262) 898-7422 or [email protected].
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