Sault Ste. Marie's Downtown Association is considering offering rent subsidies to fill vacant buildings in Queenstown.
"It's worked in other cities," Nick Rosset, the association's chair, told a board meeting this week.
In recent months, the Downtown Association has offered a Zero Vacancy program: a low-risk opportunity for property owners to fill empty street-level storefronts with rolling short-term leases.
There's an option to end the lease anytime if a prospective tenant is ready for a long-term lease.
Business insurance for the short-term leaser is covered by the Downtown Association.
"That program has struggled to get some traction," Rosset says.
"Filling spaces in the downtown translates to less vandalism," he told a Wednesday-night board meeting.
"I'm proposing that we continue some idea towards subsidizing the rent. The stumbling block that we continue to hear is that the amount that the tenant would pay to the landlord is just a little too low.
"So maybe proving that the project can work might get the ball rolling."
Other board members expressed enthusiasm for the idea and the board is expected to add something like $3,000 to its proposed 2025 budget to kick-start a rent subsidy program.
"I was going to propose almost like a third-third-third system where we would provide a third. The landlord would take a haircut on a third of the rent, and then the tenant would cover a third as well. Of course, that's pending all sorts of approvals."
In a separate matter, directors were told that Josh Ingram, a former executive director of the Downtown Association, has been hired by the city as supervisor of the downtown plaza.
Ingram most recently worked for the city as area coordinator for special events and sports tourism.
He'll be invited to attend Downtown Association board meetings.