The Knoxville City Council approved their 2024 downtown facade improvement grants at their meeting Monday night.

The grants are for 123 and 319 E Main Street, 401 E Robinson Street, and 101 E Marion Street. The council approved a $50,000 addition to the Downtown Façade Grant Program in its fiscal year 25 budget, bringing the total available funds to approximately $107,279. To date, one façade grant application has been approved by the council for $8,977.50, which is for the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce building. All of the facade improvement grants will be used by businesses to help improve the overall exterior appearance of the buildings, and business owners will still be investing in the improvements as these grants do not pay the full amount for the projects. Knoxville City Manager Heather Ussery says it’s nice to see local businesses downtown wanting to invest in improvements.

“It’s a large goal for the city for downtown revitalization, but the city can only go so far without having the support from our downtown businesses. We need them to want to invest in their properties as well, so it’s definitely a team effort. We’re very thankful for this grant program and the continuation of the investment. It’s making a significant impact and everyone is seeing those investments and it’s really changing the look of our overall downtown.”

This passed in a 4-1 vote at Monday’s meeting, as council member Megan Day voted against.