Belleville DDA forms committee to make progress on projects

A committee was set up of Belleville Downtown Development Authority members at their Nov. 19 meeting to make progress on the hardware store at 458 Main St. that it purchased in October 2023 along with the property it purchased at Third and Main at the same time.
Volunteering for that committee were Phil Miller, Mike Gatteri, and Sabrina Richardson-Williams. President of the Belleville Area Chamber of Commerce Dinara Strikis asked if a member of the public could join in and she was placed on the committee, as well.
Steve Jones, DDA Coordinator/interim city manager, had put several items on the agenda concerning the former hardware store that he has named the “WhereHouse Project.” He had proposals for new art on the windows, finishing construction, flooring, and interior paint.
The DDA approved Jones’ request to spend $1,000 to have an artist scrape off the old paintings on the WhereHouse windows and replace that with winter scenes by the same person who did the windows at the Rustic Crow. When pressed, he said the artist who will get $1,000 for the work is Gerina Rohman.
On July 17, 2024 the DDA voted to pay another artist $3,000 to paint the present pictures on the windows. On Feb. 19, 2025, the DDA approved $44,480 to fix a wall at the hardware store.
Jones also suggested some kind of sealing for the floor that is bare now that the old tiles have been torn out. And, he said, the bathroom project has to be done. He said he could get two carpet square quotes for the next meeting, and they will be between $25,000 and $30,000. Or they could go with cleaning the floor and painting it for about $2,500 or grinding it and putting on clear epoxy for $1,500.
Miller said they would need quotes from more than one vendor.
DDA member Donley said they don’t know how the space is going to be divided. He said they shouldn’t spend money on painting “until we know where we’re going.”
“I agree,” Jones said. “Make it adaptable at the lowest cost so it looks finished enough.”
DDA member Miller asked what the timeline is for completing the hardware store upgrade and Jones said, “As soon as possible.”
DDA member Beaubien asked, “What is our vision?”
Board chairman John Winter said the plan was for pop-up shops.
“I thought by Christmas we’d have some popup shops,” said treasurer Sabrina Richardson-Williams.
Jones said with the change in management at the city, he has had longer days, referring to not having enough time to do everything.
Donley said the DDA has people to sign up for tasks and have time to do it.
DDA member Mike Gatteri said they could send out a group email to ask for help. He said they need a clearly defined timeline and a committee could do that. Otherwise, it kind of gets pushed under the rug.
Jones said he put the name “WhereHouse” to signify “where you come to start your business.” He said some community groups asked if they could have space to hold meetings there.
Donley said the building is still for sale so there are several options on the table.
Miller said a commercial project wants a white box. He said the committee can look at the longterm strategies and midterm strategies. Have an incubator up and running for 18 months to see how it goes. They could look into a four or five-year plan.
Jones said he got an email from the county about granting money for industry, such as micro manufacturing, metal work, businesses and he will look into that.
Donley said to share that with the committee.
Miller agreed and said they’ll get the committee together and set up a plan. He said he recently became a real estate agent and that has other information available.
Winter said the report from the committee will be put on the January agenda.
In other business at the one-hour-19-minute meeting on Nov. 19, the DDA:
• Approved a $20,000 façade grant for Hayward’s Liquor Store, 573 Main St. The work had been discussed at a recent DDA meeting that was held without a quorum. Jennifer Kouza, business owner, and Rad Greaves, contractor, told of their plans to upgrade the building that was built in 1932 or 1934. Greaves won’t know what roofing will be put on until he opens up the roof and see how much weight it can carry. He would like to use slate tiles that he has on hand and would donate to her project, but they are heavy. They were asked to keep the city informed on what is decided. Kouza said the work has to be done by March when the number of customers increases;
• Learned Beaubien had gone door-to-door along Main Street and from 12 to 15 businesses had signed up for a $1,000 grant each for Christmas lights. She reported that since the grant can only be used to purchase lights and related items and not for labor to put them up, each will get less than the $1,000 allocated, so there will still be money left in the allocation. They voted to uncap the maximum number of businesses in the program because there is money left;
• Heard Gatteri, who suggested the grants for lights, say since there is money left, they can use some of the grant funds for the hardware store holiday lights, draping red and green lights from floor to ceiling. Miller said they shouldn’t use grant money for the hardware store and Jones said they could pay for it otherwise; and
• Heard secretary Denise Baker say she had a problem with the finance report because items are not posted properly and everything is lumped together. She said she will work with Jones and the staff to get it posted right. Miller asked for a trial balance and Jones didn’t know about that and said he would find out. Miller suggested using POs, but Baker said an invoice number goes to the account and a PO is another step. Jones said he will work on this.