CDBG application awaiting state OK

Published 10:44 am Thursday, May 19, 2016

By June Ironton-Lawrence County Community Action Organization officials will know if there will be Community Development Block Grants for Phase II of the Gateway Project off Park Avenue in downtown Ironton

“The applications have been submitted and are pending a review at the state level,” Ralph Kline, assistant executive director of the CAO, said. “I’m hoping we will hear in three or four weeks. They were wanting to get the funds awarded for this fiscal year.”

At stake are $475,000 in CDBG that would go toward street-scraping, parking and lighting infrastructure in anticipation of Brew Kettle coming to the project.

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About two years ago, Phase I opened with a Holiday In Comforts Suites and Frisch’s Big Boy restaurant.

Brew Kettle is a craft beer brewery and restaurant outside of Cleveland that is expected to renovate the former armory on the Gateway site.

Phase I was a $10 million project; Phase II is expected to come in at $5 million.

If approval of the block grants happens, it should be about 60 days before work on the infrastructure starts.

The second phase should bring in 70 new jobs.