EDA’s Lease Assistance Program
By Albert B. Kelly
When it comes to policies and programs, whether on the local
level, statewide or at the federal level, there are multiple ways to measure
value. Some policies or programs are grand in scope and seek to address some huge
problem or deficiency. Others are more for show, meant to give the appearance
of movement without costing too much time or money. A few however, are modest
in size and scope and lean toward practicality and efficiency. Being familiar
with the glacial pace of bureaucracy, the latter are the ones I am most hopeful
about.
Modest and practical is exactly how I would describe the
Small Business Lease Assistance Program which was previously known as the Business
Lease Incentive program (BLI) along with a companion program known as the
Business Improvement Incentive (BII), both administered by the New Jersey
Economic Development Authority (NJEDA).
Government agency abbreviations notwithstanding, the Small
Business Lease Assistance Program helps by reimbursing businesses and nonprofit
organizations 15% of their yearly lease payments for 2 years out of a minimum
5-year lease term when renting market-rate, first-floor space (retail, office, or
industrial). A business can lease more than 5,000 square feet, but the
reimbursement only applies up to 5k square feet.
The program is part of a portfolio that Governor Murphy and
the EDA team are assembling to help small businesses and by small I’m now thinking
more generally about the types of businesses that are unique to a community in
contrast to the massive big box chain stores which dot the landscape
nationally.
The program, created back in 2017, initially included
Atlantic City, Trenton, Camden, Passaic, and Paterson. But starting April 1st,
the program will add Bridgeton, Vineland, Millville, Salem, Jersey City, Mt.
Holly, Plainfield, and Phillipsburg and proceed within the framework of a
3-year pilot program to be evaluated accordingly.
As for the details, Bridgeton and the other communities will
have $100,000 per community per year made available so that qualified
businesses in each community can, if approved, get some relief on their lease. On
a side note, if a business received assistance through Grow NJ or the ERG
program, they would not be eligible for this program.
Applicants to the program must operate their business within
the leased space for the full year under which the reimbursement is being
requested. The application fee is $500 for a business and $250 for nonprofit
entities. Landlords and tenants cannot be related and assistance is a one-time
thing. It’s not a huge chunk of money, but it helps and you don’t have to give
your first-born to get it.
The companion program, (Business Improvement Incentive or BII)
which offers grants of 50% of a project’s total cost up to $20k to businesses
making at least $5k in improvements is being discontinued as of June 28th.
This is being done to properly fund lease assistance and because they’ve learned
what works best through pilot programs and adjust accordingly.
As an aside, appearances matter as do first impressions and
improving curb-appeal in these communities, particularly facades and signage
would help resource-challenged downtowns with revitalization. Perhaps a grant
program narrowly defined for facades and signage might be a future pilot option.
One important aspect of the approach taken here by Governor
Murphy and EDA Chief Tim Sullivan is that the EDA team will coordinate with the
municipalities involved on the best strategies for rolling out the program in each
community and identifying key areas in which to focus resources such as designated
redevelopment areas and commercial corridors. This matters because every
community is unique with its own characteristics and nuances.
Actionable and practical pilot programs are a smart approach
to finding out what works and what doesn’t. Rather than massive programs with
gaudy numbers, long timelines, and fuzzy metrics that leave us uncertain as to whether
a program worked, we have modest investments with simple metrics and if it doesn’t
work, we try something else and we haven’t lost eye-popping sums of money. That’s
no small thing when we’re talking about government.
Heading toward the April 1st start date, we’ll be
coordinating with the EDA team and I encourage small businesses that believe
they might qualify, both in Bridgeton and in the other participating
communities, to visit the New Jersey Economic Development Authority webpage at https://www.njeda.com/ to find out more about
this program and some of the other assistance offered by EDA to assist the business
sector.