Dartmouth business gets facade makeover

By Joanne Oostveen - The Weekly News
A grant that helped give her business a fresh new face has been a godsend, said downtown business owner Suzanne Wamboldt.
Wamboldt is vice president and co-owner of uberHome Technology Integration Ltd., located at 77 King St. They have been in that location since January and even though they are only leasing, Wamboldt said she knew they would have to do something to give their storefront a much-needed facelift.
"And that is when I heard about the grant," said Wamboldt. "Apparently we are the first business downtown to take advantage of it."
Any property owner or business who is leasing and has the approval from the owner and who is a member of the Downtown Dartmouth Business Commission can apply for the grant, said Tim Olive, executive director of the business commission.
"The grant is 50 per cent of the total approved costs up to $3,000 for a single storefront and up to $4,000 for a corner lot such as uberHome, providing there is a public sidewalk on both facades to be upgraded," said Olive.
The facade program is one based on similar projects in industrial Cape Breton and Edmonton and is made available to encourage the owners of buildings needing physical improvements to invest their funds into facade upgrades, he said.
Wamboldt used the grant money to paint the property, replace the gutters, do some repairs and is now waiting for the installment of the permanent fixture for her sign.
"uberHome has a unique period building that is highly visible and in its former condition was an eyesore," said Olive. "It now creates a very positive pedestrian and vehicular image as well as restoring an older home to its former glory. This project demonstrates that for minimal costs the building owner can paint, sign and light their building fronts, thus enticing a higher quality of clientele to open up a business and raise the bar on the type of businesses in our downtown, hopefully bringing in a more sophisticated buying public."
joanneoostveen@accesswave.ca
For information, contact Tim Olive at 466-2997.