Business owner credits CRE/CRA program for brightening downtown landmark

Lulu, owner of ACJB, Art Cottages of Jensen Beach, told the meeting that a county façade program funded repainting of a historic downtown building she operates as a jewelry shop and a rental business, and that the work made the site more visible to visitors. "Thanks to the CRE program, we painted our building, which was in dire need of paint, created a spot that people remember," Lulu said. "The paint is fresh and bright and beautiful. It was kinda dull, disappeared into the background before."

Lulu said she learned about the CRE/CRA program at a Neighborhood Advisory Committee (NAC) meeting hosted at the Chamber of Commerce and that a person she identified as Jana Cox provided guidance on how to apply. "We found out about the CRA program through the NAC meeting at the Chamber of Commerce. The topic came up and I questioned 1 of the ladies there, Jana Cox, about how do I get involved in that," she said.

According to Lulu, painting the building purple changed how people notice the property: "The purple building has become the landmark in downtown. We had we've always had this beautiful home, historic home here, but it it went unnoticed. People would drive by and say, what yellow house? ... but it went unnoticed until we painted it purple." She added that the color has "become the landmark, you know, the big purple house downtown. It's it's, much more exciting and noticeable. Brings brightness to the downtown."

The remarks occurred during public comment; no formal action, vote or staff direction was recorded in the provided transcript excerpt. The transcript does not specify the exact program name (it is referred to as both "CRE program" and "CRA program") nor does it include funding amounts, board responses, or any staff presentation on the project.