New state program to help with rent costs for Main Street businesses

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority will accept applications next month for the first tranche of state aid under a $100 million “Main Street Recovery” program, which itself is part of a mammoth $14.5 billion state incentive economic package the governor approved in January.

This first pool of money clocks in at $10 million – potentially doubled to $20 million in the near future – and is meant to help businesses and nonprofits pay for the cost of street-level rent costs, the state agency announced on Sept. 15. Formally called the Small Business Lease Grant Program, applications open on Oct. 20, according to an NJEDA announcement.

The grants will cover up to 20% of annual lease payments, with one being paid immediately after approval and a second a year after lease payments were made. Eligibility is limited to establishments that rent at least 250 square feet of ground-level office, commercial or retail space, and which signed their current lease within the past year. They’ll have to commit to staying at that location for the next five years.

“Our Main Street Recovery Program will arm small businesses and nonprofits with the tools necessary to reopen and prepare for long-term success in the aftermath of the pandemic,” reads a statement from NJEDA Chief Executive Officer Tim Sullivan, who called the lease program “an important first step.”

The NJEDA will set aside $4 million for businesses based out of the state’s 715 poorest communities, known as Opportunity Zone eligible census tracts.

Another $15 million from the Main Street Recovery funds – potentially doubled to $30 million – would go toward “Small Business Improvement Grants,” which cover up to 50% of eligible business improvement costs going back to March 9, 2020, at the start of the pandemic, the agency said in its board documents last month.

Grants are capped at $50,000 and would compensate businesses for expenses such as the purchase and installation of new furniture, fixtures and equipment.

Businesses need to pay workers at least $15 an hour or 120% of the state’s $12 hourly minimum wage, whichever is greater. And they need to stay at whatever facility they’ve moved into for however long it is outlined in the grant agreement.

Over the course of the pandemic and related business closures and restrictions, NJEDA officials have approved hundreds of millions of dollars in grants and low-interest loans to help those establishments stay afloat.

And now with the state still in the midst of its recovery from Hurricanes Ida and Henri, businesses are in the midst of seeking millions of dollars in state grants and low-interest federal loans.