PA Route 6 Alliance offering $100k in façade grants to benefit Wayne, Pike businesses

Peter Becker, Tri-County Independent
·4 min read

Businesses in Wayne and Pike counties can spruce up the front façade of their building at half the cost, up to a maximum $5,000 award, thanks to a $100,000 state grant announced by PA Route 6 Alliance.

The building does not have to be right along Route 6. This is the last phase of a multi-year goal of the nonprofit Alliance to offer this program to all 11 counties sharing the 403-mile Route 6 corridor across northern Pennsylvania.

The grant is from the Keystone Communities Program through the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development’s (DCED). It was first issued to the Alliance in 2019.

With additional support from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, this grant is facilitating the program in Wayne and Pike counties. This year, the Alliance is partnering with the Pocono Forest and Waters Landscape area to host public information meetings, review applications, and then select projects to receive funding.

One of a dozen examples of facade projects awarded in Honesdale Borough through the Greater Honesdale Partnership is exterior renovations to the front of the new gallery home of the nonprofit Wayne County Arts Alliance at 959 Main St., at right. The WCAA acquired the property in 2023. The state Keystone Communities Program has now been offered by the PA Route 6 Alliance to help businesses across Wayne and Pike counties to improve their facades.

Candace Hillyard, executive director of PA Route 6 Alliance, explained that each dollar of a grant award is matched by one dollar from the applicant, up to a maximum of a $5,000 award. "No project is too small," Hillyard said. Examples of projects include a fresh coat of paint, new signs, awnings, windows, and structural repairs, if it is the front façade of the building as seen from the street or road.

The Alliance estimates that 20 to 25 businesses in Wayne and Pike counties will benefit from the current grant through DCED’s Keystone Communities Program.

"I recommend business owners come to one of the four public meetings to learn more about the program and learn how to apply. We'd love to meet them," Hillyard said.

Spin Cycle Laundromat, 510 Church St., Honesdale, benefitted from the state facade grant program hosted by Greater Honesdale Partnership (GHP), helping to pay for a new awning. The state Keystone Communities Program has now been offered by the PA Route 6 Alliance to help businesses across Wayne and Pike counties to improve their facades. As with the Honesdale grants, a 50% dollar to dollar match is required, with the maximum grant award being $5,000. GHP has also been awarded a new round of facade grant funding from the same program.

Public meetings to explain the guidelines and grant procedures are scheduled as follows:

  • Monday, March 18, at 6 p.m. at Forest Hall, 214 Broad St., Milford.

  • Tuesday, March 19, at 9 a.m. at Forest Hall, 214 Broad St., Milford.

  • Tuesday, March 19, at 6 p.m. at the Boiler Room in the Hawley Silk Mill, 8 Silk Mill Drive, Hawley.

  • Wednesday, March 20, at 9 a.m. at the Community Room at the Greater Honesdale Partnership, 32 Commercial St., Honesdale.

  • Additionally, a Zoom meeting will take place the evening of Wednesday, March 27. Attendees must pre-register for at least one of these meetings and follow-up emails will be sent with additional information and links for the Zoom meeting.

The Greater Honesdale Partnership (GHP), which according to their mission statement “promotes, builds and invests in the community” in the Honesdale area, was recently awarded a second round of $50,000 in façade grants from this same source, the DCED Keystone Communities Program. Hillyard said PA Route 6 Alliance is partnering with GHP to spread the Alliance award to other parts of the county to give other businesses the same opportunity given to those in Honesdale.

Sandi Levens, executive director of GHP, said that there also will be public meetings announced for the second round of funding for Honesdale, after the Alliance meetings. "We had 12 businesses benefit with over $180,000 in projects/improvements," Levens said.

The former, historic Katz Department Store building on the 600 block of Main Street, Honesdale, benefitted from the first round of a state facade grant program hosted by Greater Honesdale Partnership. The landmark has various commercial storefronts and apartments above. The state Keystone Communities Program has now been offered by the PA Route 6 Alliance to help businesses across Wayne and Pike counties to improve their facades.

Prior programs offered through the PA Route 6 Alliance have resulted in façade and storefront improvements to 135 businesses with an estimated economic impact of over $1.355 million dollars in these communities, the Alliance notes.

The façade program in Lackawanna County, where awards were announced in February, resulted in 24 projects totaling over $246,000 in façade improvements. In Carbondale alone, there were eight awarded projects.

“The Shapiro Administration is thrilled to support the PA Route 6 Alliance through the Keystone Communities Program as we work together to make the Route 6 Heritage Corridor a more inviting place to live, work, and visit,” said DCED Secretary Rick Siger. “Governor Shapiro has proposed a $25 million investment in the new Main Street Matters program, which will build on successes like this one, and give even more communities the resources they need to attract new businesses, support small businesses, spur economic development and improve their quality of life.”

The stated mission of the PA Route 6 Alliance is to "preserve, enhance and promote the transportation heritage of one of the nation’s first transcontinental highways; to sustain and enhance the small rural communities linked by the highway; and to preserve and enhance the natural, scenic beauty of one of America’s favorite 'road trips'."

For more information about the PA Route 6 Façade Program or to register for a public meeting, visit paroute6.com/pocono-mountains-facade-program.

MB's Shear Expressions, 530 Main St., Honesdale, was one of a dozen businesses that benefitted from the first round of a state facade grant program hosted by Greater Honesdale Partnership. The state Keystone Communities Program has now been offered by the PA Route 6 Alliance to help businesses across Wayne and Pike counties to improve their facades.

Peter Becker has worked at the Tri-County Independent or its predecessor publications since 1994. Reach him at pbecker@tricountyindependent.com or 570-253-3055 ext. 1588.

This article originally appeared on Tri-County Independent: Grant funds available for façades on Wayne, Pike businesses