Wayne County’s downtown property owners soon will be able to apply for up to $200,000 toward rehabilitating a retail or commercial building.
During its May 11 meeting, Economic Development Corp. of Wayne County board approved guidelines for the three-phase program that will begin June 8. Wayne County commissioners and council members also approved the program’s guidelines during their May 20 workshop.
The county’s blight reduction project is expected to prompt millions in private investment.
Wayne County successfully applied for a $3 million grant toward the project, and it will be matched with Richmond and Wayne County’s $1 million allocations from federal pandemic relief funds. The final $1 million comes from local economic development income taxes.
Eligible projects include exterior and interior improvements. Nine types of facade projects generally qualify, such as roofing, windows, painting, masonry cleaning/restoration, new construction and signage. Interior projects can include environmental remediation or upgrades to wiring, heating/cooling, plumbing, elevators and sprinklers.
The first phase is open to the county’s incorporated communities with utilities.
The building owner or business must provide a 25% match. Projects must total at least $20,000, and the work must be completed by Dec. 31, 2028.
Applicants in the first and second phases may apply for eligible work dating back to Aug. 2, 2024.
The second phase, expected to start in September, is for unincorporated areas.
And on Feb. 1, 2027, applications should be available for new projects in incorporated communities.
A scoring committee will evaluate applications.
Sarah Mitchell, EDC’s economic development manager, said goals for the program include strengthening and incentivizing retail activity, incentivizing second-story residential development, increasing property values and attracting new businesses.
Those funds will address several needs but won’t renovate all of the county’s downtowns. Forward Wayne County conducted a building study in 2023 showing $56 million is needed to renovate Main Street commercial buildings in Cambridge City, Centerville, Hagerstown and Richmond.
This downtown program is the third of three EDC-led blight reductions projects that received matching funds in November 2025 through Indiana’s Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative 2.0, supported by Lilly Endowment Inc. Wayne County received a total of $5.1 million for the three projects.
The first two efforts, which are near downtown Richmond, began recently. Several historic homes in the Starr neighborhood are being revitalized, and new homes are being added on vacant lots in the Vaile neighborhood.
For the downtown project, READI is supplying $3 million to match a $3 million local contribution. Two million of the local funds came through the Hoosier Enduring Legacy Program as Indiana’s Office of Community and Rural Affairs helped communities spend their American Rescue Plan Act dollars. The city of Richmond and Wayne County each allocated $1 million from those funds for this project.
Wayne County leaders previously approved the $1 million local contribution toward downtown revitalization. Half will come from Consolidated Economic Development Income Tax and half is from Wayne County’s EDIT.
EDC’s board also approved the grant agreement with IEDC and a new READI grant savings account to separate these funds from other projects.
Once the renovations are complete, EDC will reimburse building owners and seek state reimbursement.
A version of this article appeared in the May 27 2026 print edition of the Western Wayne News.