COVINGTON, Ky. — Covington is awarding several small businesses for the next round of the city’s small business incentive program.
The program is designed to bolster locally owned businesses. Since its inception in 2017, the city has invested in 148 small businesses in Covington, offering three different incentives:
- Up to $500 per month for a business's first year of rent
- A forgivable loan of up to $6,000 to match an investment dollar-for-dollar in facade improvements to a commercial building
- A forgivable loan of up to $7,500 to restore a historic electronic sign
"We’re looking for those businesses that are starting up to grow and worry about expanding, as opposed to worrying about making rent every month," Covington business retention manager Patrick Duffy told WCPO. “Here in Covington, (we) don’t really deal with the chains as much. We like to deal with these small businesses that have a lot of character. We feel like that gives us our identity as a city.”
You can learn more about the impact of this project by watching the video below:
Since the program started in 2017, the city has approved financial help for 155 small businesses.
“We see a lot of new faces every weekend," said Chase Doud, part owner of Covington bar The Well. "It’s great to see. You know, year over year we’re up 20%.”
WCPO caught up with Doud Monday as he and his team were adding plant fixtures on a sidewalk the city just repaved. Doud’s business didn’t directly receive funds from the City of Covington, but the owner of the building before him did.
“I know when we got this building, they took advantage of the incentive program that the city had — redoing the facade of this whole building," Doud said. "I lived in Covington for the better part of my, you know, adult life; I lived down the street and seeing how this area has developed in that time frame, has grown in that time frame. It started with Braxton and hotel company, you know, that revitalized this area and made it a destination and I don’t see the growth stopping anytime soon."
