ECGRA Awards Grants for Anchor Buildings Throughout Erie County
The Erie County Gaming Revenue Authority (ECGRA) announced the recipients of the 2024 Anchor Building grant today. The Anchor Building grant is awarded to a non-profit or municipal entity in Erie County. The funds are used to revitalize buildings with historic, architectural, or social significance in communities.
"Investing in anchor buildings simultaneously preserves and improves Erie County," said ECGRA Executive Director Perry Wood. The revitalization and stabilization of these buildings directly impacts our neighborhoods and communities by reinvigorating main streets, boosting small businesses, and combating blight."
ECGRA funding can serve as a vital part of the financing structure to bridge the gap, boost the real estate market, assist in developing equity, and enhance the quality of place.
"ECGRA dollars have helped us to rehab and preserve this beautiful space allowing us to serve the community by offering high-quality early childhood education and programming opportunities for children and adults of all abilities, in a central location," said the Exectuive Director of Explore the Possibilities Jamie Matson. "The investment of ECGRA funds in buildings like ours allows us to focus on what we do best."
Most often, historic buildings located in the heart of the community are anchor buildings with intrinsic historical, architectural, and/or social qualities that make places special or unique. Similarly, these buildings can be adaptively re-used due to the quality of original construction, location, and/or sustainability for new uses. Unfortunately, communities find that these older buildings are difficult to re-use due to construction costs relative to new building codes, lack of financial resources, or appraisal values that do not support local lenders making an investment.
One previous success story is the rehabilitation of the downtown buidling 28 PA-5 on the corner of State Street and 12th Street. ECGRA funding helped to revitalize an iconic structure that is now thriving with several tenants, helping to reinvigorate downtown Erie and generate economic impact.
An impact investing organization, ECGRA's mission is to empower the nonprofit sector, municipal governments, and economic development agencies to revitalize Erie County. ECGRA is endowed with local share gaming revenue from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania via the Horse Race Gaming Act. Local share gaming revenue is an assessment of the licensed gambling industry in Pennsylvania. ECGRA administers local share gaming revenue on behalf of Erie County government.
To see the full list of 2024 Anchor Buidling recipients, click here.
