Main Street Fairfield has received a $100,000 Main Street Iowa Challenge Grant to rehabilitate the upper story of the historic Bradshaw building at 118 W. Burlington Ave., creating five additional residential units in downtown Fairfield. The local match on the project is $358,028, bringing the total project cost to $458,028.
The Bradshaw building is currently home to Green Building Supply and is owned by Aaron Hirshberg, who also serves as a Main Street Fairfield board member. The grant will fund work on the building’s upper story to add downtown housing.
Fairfield was one of 11 communities statewide to receive a share of $1.1 million awarded by the Iowa Economic Development Authority on November 5th, joining Boone, Centerville, Fort Dodge, Grundy Center, Lansing, Mount Vernon, Nevada, Newton, Ottumwa and West Des Moines. Main Street Fairfield Executive Director Jill Lane and Hirshberg attended the awards presentation at IEDA’s office in Des Moines.
Other notable projects include a fire-damaged 1890 building in Ottumwa being transformed into a steakhouse and three upper-story apartments, an 1895 commercial building in Boone gaining a restored stone facade and two apartments, and a vacant 1930s church in West Des Moines being converted into 20 salon suites for independent businesses.
IEDA Director Debi Durham said the impact of the projects extends beyond the buildings themselves.
“They bring new businesses, new residents and more reasons to head downtown,” Durham said. “And that momentum can spread beyond one building or one block and throughout the entire community.”
Jim Engle, director of the Iowa Downtown Resource Center, said the grant program has a consistent track record of moving projects forward.
“The Challenge Grant has consistently pushed many projects in Main Street communities forward,” Engle said. “These downtown building rehabilitation projects have created better business climates, brought historic buildings back to life and created a new, exciting vibe in our Main Street districts.”
The grants are administered through IEDA’s Iowa Downtown Resource Center, which includes the Main Street Iowa program, and are awarded as matching grants to local Main Street programs. The estimated total cost of all 11 projects statewide is more than $4.3 million.
Since the program launched in 2002, it has provided more than $17.6 million in funding and leveraged more than $76.8 million in additional private investment.
