Small Business Improvement Fund helps Chicago entrepreneurs fill empty retail space

Friends, clients and neighbors often share their frustration with empty retail storefronts in otherwise prospering neighborhoods.

The concern around empty retail storefronts and dilapidated mixed use buildings lining city corridors is a reoccurring theme. Many friends, neighbors and clients bring up "this or that" empty commercial space in conversation. There are many reasons for vacant stores that range from absent or delinquent building owners to simple market realities. In some cases a space may be available to a business but is in bad physical shape.

However some savvy Chicago business owners are identifying resources to acquire and improve their brick and mortar home.   The Small Business Improvement Fund by non-profit SomerCor is a unique small business loan that may help your business improve a space to fit your needs. The SBIF was recently brought to my attention when I asked local officials about some vacant retail. In the course of our daily real estate business we discover a lot of local funding opportunities for both business and neighborhood initiatives.