Small business owner Candice Denslow this month bought the 5,500-square-foot retail space in downtown New Rochelle where since 2008 she has run Consign It On Main, a high-end imported furniture and lighting consignment shop. She plans to invest another $200 in energy-saving upgrades. In less than two months, she should see a full return on that investment through reduced electricity use.
“A $2,000-a-year savings on a storefront is a nice chunk of money,” Denslow said recently at her shop at 573 Main St.
Denslow is a pioneer in a restaurant and retail support program recently launched by the New Rochelle Business Improvement District. The BID has partnered with Community Capital Resources ”“ a Hawthorne-based regional alternative lender to small businesses ”“ the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and Consolidated Edison to lower its business members”™ operating costs through energy conservation measures recommended by contractors for Con Edison and NYSERDA. Incentives offered by the BID”™s energy partners will cover 70 percent of Denslow”™s cost to upgrade.
“I don”™t have to get an electrician,” she said. “They supply all the labor, all the parts.” Con Edison”™s contractor, Willdan Energy Solutions in Manhattan, recently conducted a free energy efficiency survey and recommended upgrades that will save the store owner an estimated 10,263 kilowatt hours annually.
New Rochelle BID Executive Director Ralph DiBart said Community Capital Resources will provide eligible businesses with loans of up to $25,000 to assist with energy upgrades and other physical improvements, operating expenses and marketing. The nonprofit agency awards U.S. Small Business Administration microloans to businesses in Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess and Rockland counties.
Tamara Underwood, director of small business lending and support at Community Capital Resources, said the New Rochelle program is part of the agency”™s small business green lending initiative developed this year.
DiBart said the BID plans to enroll 10 downtown restaurants in the program in the next few months. The first eateries to join the program were Coromandel Cuisine of India, Sabor Latino and Alvin and Friends, a Caribbean and Southern soul food restaurant opening this fall at 49 Lawton St.
Alvin Clayton, the new restaurant”™s owner-chef and a partner in the former Georgia Restaurant in Los Angeles, said the New Rochelle BID”™s restaurant support initiative was “a major reason why we decided to join its growing restaurant district.”
DiBart said he expects the New Rochelle program will be a model the BID”™s partners will bring to other communities.
