Some people might not consider what happens to a building or a storefront once a business closes down and moves out. While the business owner can take their wares with them, they can’t take the building too, so the property becomes vacant. According to a 2023 study conducted by the City of Euclid – of the 467 businesses that were surveyed in the city, 105, or 22%, were believed to be vacant by their metrics. Because the longer building sits without regular maintenance that a tenant would provide, these buildings can eventually cause issues to the city when a water leak springs, fire breaks out, or some other incident happens which results in city intervention, usually in the form of fire trucks or police vehicles. The outside of Euclid Travel of off Lake Shore Blvd, which has been closed for around 20 years, shown. (Frank Mecham- The News-Herald.) According to a previous report, Euclid rolled out regulations last year, that would require an “agent in charge” for any residential, commercial, or industrial buildings with the requirement that the agent be an individual that lives in Cuyahoga County and serve as the main contact for the Division of Building and Housing. Now, according to Patrick Grogan-Myers, director of planning and development, the city is coming back to the vacancy problem. This time, however, it is offering a carrot instead of a stick, by starting a new “Vacant to Vibrant Program” which officially started in the beginning of this year. “(it’s) really focused on filling some of these longer-term vacant spaces that we have around the city,” Grogan-Myers said. “These are commercial spaces that maybe had restaurants or retail in them, that for whatever reason, aren’t occupied at this time. “The idea is that ultimately, these vacancies impact how a commercial corridor thrives,” he added. “The area might not actually be unsafe, it might not actually be dirty, or not thriving, but vacancy gives that impression. “Police data does not bare out that downtown is an unsafe place to be. It’s absolutely a safe place to go see a movie, have dinner, go shop, but there are a number of storefronts that have been vacant for some time.” The backyard of an unused store front off of East 185th can be seen. (Frank Mecham- The News-Herald.) The program would help provide financial assistance to property owners who have had a vacant property, and who claim that renovating the space would over leverage them to the point of not being able to make a profit at comparable rental rates in the area. For sale buildings, wrapped in paper, can be seen off of East 185th Street in Euclid. (Frank Mecham- The News-Herald.) He added that providing funds to property owners was not the only approach the city was taking as they wanted to make sure funds were being used appropriately, acknowledging that there are some who might not be charging appropriate rental prices for what they offer. “This is not intended to be a magic wand, a multi-pronged approach is absolutely critical for this work,” Grogan-Myers said. “There is an element that some landlords do minimal work and expect maximum rents. That is an element in this… but in talking with a number of property owners in the city, the amount of work that needs to be done to get the space ready for the next tenant will never be made up in the rents that they can charge because it just costs too much.” A closed store, whose front has been wrapped in paper, can be seen off of E. 185th Street in Euclid. (Frank Mecham- The News-Herald.) He said that over the course of the next few weeks, he will be going to City Council to develop the requirements of the program, which will be released online. He added that City Council has made comments that they want to keep some sort of oversite on where the funds are being used, to ensure property owners are not using the program as a way to shift cleanup costs, from their pockets, to the city’s coffers.