The Montrose Group is excited to share Rick and Meghan Hogrefe and the city of Sandusky’s selection to receive a $1 million JobsOhio Vibrant Community Grant Program award. In 2019, USA Today recognized the city of Sandusky as America’s “Best Coastal Small Town,” and for good reason. Prioritization by city leadership of revitalizing the downtown business district, a robust locally-owned restaurant and retail scene, and its Lake Erie shoreline location have made the city of Sandusky a true Ohio gem. This momentum keeps building as JobsOhio announced a $1 million award to the Hogrefe – Cooke Building from the JobsOhio Vibrant Community Grant Program. One of only four recipients of more than 40 requests statewide, demonstrates the importance this $8.8 million project will have to the city of Sandusky and state of Ohio towards revitalizing downtowns and main streets through targeted investments.
Local residents and investors, Rick and Meghan Hogrefe, have been a staple in the Sandusky area economy and have made several investments into redeveloping downtown structures. The Cooke Building site includes construction of a new 30,000 SF mixed-use building, bringing historic elements of the former Cooke Building back to life in the downtown business district. Reminger Attorneys at Law will be the building’s anchor office tenant with additional retail storefronts on the first floor and new residential units on the third floor.
The JobsOhio Vibrant Community Grant Program identifies 98 communities with populations between 5,000 and 75,000 and poverty rates that are at or above the state’s average poverty rate of 14.6% as eligible to submit proposals for JobsOhio consideration. This program recognizes that distressed communities often do not have adequate resources to develop and implement economic development projects that can attract private investment and create new jobs in the community. The Vibrant Community Grant Program was established to assist distressed communities implement catalytic development projects that fulfill a market need and represent a significant reinvestment in areas that have struggled to attract new investment.
For more information on the JobsOhio Vibrant Community Grant Program, please contact Jamie Beier Grant at The Montrose Group at (419) 707-0164 or [email protected].