Grants boost High Point projects
Mar. 16—HIGH POINT — Congress recently approved federal expenditures for two projects in High Point.
Rep. Kathy Manning, whose district includes the city, secured $1 million for a proposal called the Lighthouse to redevelop a vacant building and $959,752 for the city's "advanced water metering" project.
The latter will go toward the city's ongoing $22 million conversion to a "smart metering" system for the collection of electric, water and sewer usage data from customers.
The recipient of the funding for the Lighthouse project is the Southwest Renewal Foundation, a nonprofit that proposed the idea.
It purchased a vacant 4,524-square-foot industrial building on a 2.15-acre site at Tomlinson Street and W. Grimes Avenue in 2022 and plans to rehabilitate it into a multi-purpose community center.
"Partnering with High Point by Design (HPxD), a new membership nonprofit representing 78 home furnishings companies and designers, The Lighthouse can serve as a gateway for disadvantaged residents and people of color with design talent to enter the city's large design community," the project description stated.
The Lighthouse is intended to complement other initiatives in this part of the city, including a new segment of greenway slated to be funded by a $19.8 million federal grant.
The Southwest Renewal Foundation has worked with architects, planners and engineers on concepts for the project that would include "green stormwater infrastructure" to clean up the site and minimize impacts from future redevelopment by replacing impervious areas with trees and plants.
Complete funding for the project hasn't been secured.
The congressional appropriation for the project fell short of the $1.83 million the Southwest Renewal Foundation was seeking.
The application called for it to provide a $430,840 match for a total project budget of $2.26 million.
