Downtown Facade Improvement Program

Historic Building

The City of Ames offers several types of support for improving non-residential buildings in Downtown (Eligibility Area(PDF, 143KB)), based on the adopted Downtown Design Guidelines:

  • Matching grants of up to $23,000 with professional design assistance of up to $2,000
  • Downtown Urban Revitalization providing abatement of additional property taxes for improvements

Qualifying improvements for either improvement program must follow the Downtown Design Guidelines(PDF, 2MB). One section of the guidelines applies to non-residential buildings that are generally more than 50 years old and were built with the historic retail commercial storefront. Another section of the guidelines applies to all other non-residential buildings in the eligibility area. 

Grants

Grants are offered twice a year: spring and fall. 

Facades 

The City offers three types of facade grants:

  1. Street-facing modifications to bring facades into compliance with the Downtown Design Guidelines.
  2. Rehabilitation of historically significant, character-defining features. 
  3. Non-street-facing modification to bring facades into compliance with the Downtown Design Guidelines. (The building must be a contributing resource to the Ames Main Street National Register Historic District(PDF, 879KB). This is available in the spring round only.)

Maintenance

In the spring round of funding, grant money is available for maintenance of properties that are contributing resources to the Ames Main Street National Register Historic District(PDF, 879KB) for the following work only:

  • Repair of exterior walls - external repair only. This includes the repointing of brick walls and structural repair.
  • Foundation repairs.
  • Roof repair/replacement - external repair only.

Tax Abatement

Tax abatement is offered for properties that achieve eligibility in two ways:

  1. Design requirements, including receiving a facade grant in compliance with the Downtown Design Guidelines and
  2. A compliant use. 

Further Eligibility Criteria

  • The property must be located within the Downtown URA boundary.
  • Building improvements must be completed, and the building must have a Certificate of Occupancy from the Ames Inspections Division.
  • The minimum value of a building improvement must increase the actual value by 5% or more. Site improvements, e.g. parking lots, landscaping, etc. are not eligible for tax abatement as a building improvement is required. 
  • A property owner may choose either a 3-, 5-, or 10-year sliding schedule of tax abatement.
  • The improvement must be maintained for the life of the tax abatement. 

Contact

If interested in any of the above programs, please contact Benjamin Campbell at 515-239-5400 or benjamin.campbell@cityofames.org. 

Further Information

Back to top