$808,000 grant for Bloomfield Square

Main Street grant goes with $500,000 CDBG grant received earlier to fix building facades

(Excerpted from an Aug. 18, 2010 article in The Bloomfield Democrat by Gary Spurgeon, Publisher)

A grant that will pump another $808,000 into the Bloomfield Square was announced Monday by Iowa Governor Chet Culver.

The I-Jobs grant was part of $13 million for 24 projects in Main Street Iowa communities to support physical improvements in their historic communities.

The latest Bloomfield grant is in addition to a [$500,000] Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) announced earlier for façade improvements to buildings around the Bloomfield Square.

The $808,000 announced Monday is for work planned on seven properties that include nine storefronts, plus [work on the clock tower, roof and windows on] the Davis County Courthouse.  Davis County will receive $100,000 from the total amount that it can use toward the reconstruction and renovation of the courthouse.

Doug Dixon, president of Bloomfield Main Street, who headed the team writing the grant application, said this I-JOBS grant will allow more extensive work on the seven buildings than would have been possible under the CDBG grant.

He said not only is façade work allowed, but the money can also be used for structural repair and work inside the buildings.

“I am pleased to announce the I-JOBS grants to support the enhancement of these vital historic areas in our Iowa communities,” Culver said.  “The infusion of I-JOBS funding will enable physical improvements to these districts that will create immediate construction jobs short-term and the Main Street districts will gain long-term permanent jobs as a result of more residents living, working and spending time and money in these community centers for decades to come.”