Honolulu businesses affected by the ongoing construction of the nearly $10 billion Skyline rail project can soon apply for financial relief, city officials announced last week.
To that end, the city said $10,000 grants may be awarded to applicant businesses of 15 or fewer employees located near the rail line.
Beginning at 10 a.m. Jan. 27, the city Department of Budget and Fiscal Services will open the so-called transit construction mitigation fund, or TCMF, grant online portal to accept applications.
TCMF grants will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, based on authorized and available funding for the program, the city said. Grant applications must be submitted by 10 a.m. Feb 7.
Grants will be available to eligible businesses that:
• Have fewer than 15 employees.
• Generate less than $750,000 in annual revenue.
• Are located within one block of active rail construction on Dillingham Boulevard.
• Are currently open for business.
• Are majority-owned by city residents.
• Were open for business at their current physical location before Jan. 1, 2022.
• Meet the business 10% revenue decline requirement.
The city’s planned financial assistance comes after many businesses along the rail corridor’s route toward Kakaako continue to struggle from month to month or have gone out of business altogether.
Anthony Han, owner of Soul Chicken and Bliss Lounge on the 1000 block of Dillingham Boulevard, said he’s among those who continue to struggle.
“We are kind of lucky because we have a good reputation for our chicken, that’s why we are surviving,” he told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser by phone.
Han said he’d be interested in applying for the city’s $10,000 grant program, as business remains slow.
However, he said ongoing rail construction often hampers the ability of customers to show up to his combination Korean fried chicken eatery and karaoke bar, which employs four — a number that two years ago was closer to 10.
“Local people don’t want to come here because they already know that Dillingham has hard traffic,” Han said. “After Thanksgiving it’s gotten worse. … It’s crazy slow.”
Grant money is being made available via the Honolulu City Council’s passage of Bill 40 in early 2024.
At the time, the measure was meant to jump-start the city’s existing yet dormant transit construction mitigation fund.
Established through city legislation in 2018 under then-Mayor Kirk Caldwell, the fund was slated to “receive and expend money to mitigate negative economic impacts from the construction of the Honolulu High Capacity Transit project,” now known as Skyline.
That year, the Council appropriated $2 million to provide real property tax relief to eligible businesses. And the following year, the Council added $750,000 to the mitigation fund.
In 2019, Caldwell issued a message stating that from then on, the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation “should be responsible for the transit construction mitigation measures” and pay for any associated costs.
But in early 2023, HART’s board of directors voted unanimously to remove the rail agency from mention of having any responsibility for administering that fund.
And a program was never established for distribution of money in the mitigation fund — leaving affected businesses empty-handed.
Under the 2018 legislation, expenditures from that fund were to include grants to businesses forced to relocate due to rail construction; grants for business interruption to compensate those along the corridor for the loss of income due to construction impacts; and working capital advances — loans to cover business-operating expenses required to stay open during the rail’s construction phase.
To bring about a measure of change, Council members Radiant Cordero and Tyler Dos Santos-Tam — who each represent portions of the Kalihi community — co-sponsored Bill 40.
“The small businesses that make Kalihi so special have been suffering throughout rail’s development,” he said in a statement. “I’m glad that after years of talking about throwing them a lifeline, we’re finally actually doing it.”
Cordero agreed.
“Small businesses are such an important part of our community and economy, and those facing challenges during the construction of the largest public transportation project in our state really need our support right now,” she said in a statement. “The transit construction mitigation fund is here to help these businesses stay strong, and I encourage anyone eligible to take a look at the program and apply while the window is open.”
Mayor Rick Blangiardi signed Bill 40 into law in February.
“We cannot afford to lose the services and character that our neighborhood businesses provide to our communities, especially considering that they are on the cusp of benefiting tremendously from Skyline, which will become a transformative economic driver when it is complete,” the mayor said in a statement. “Consequently, we are providing these grants to help our local businesses get through a challenging time.”
Rail construction’s disruptions to local businesses remain, according to Han.
Han said that includes underground utility work — done either by HART contractor Nan Inc. or by Hawaiian Electric — which he claimed often blocks the entry of car-driving customers to a parking lot near his business.
“Sometimes HART comes to me and says they are going to install something and they are going to block this parking lot for just one hour,” he said. “But their job is maybe more than eight hours, (and) they’re not sure when they’ll close the parking lot entrance.”
Han said if he were to receive a $10,000 grant, he would use it to pay past-due rent for his business.
But he noted $10,000 is not a lot of money to help support an individual business in Honolulu — particularly one like his that’s constantly affected by rail construction.
“It’s better than nothing, though,” he added.
For more information about the grant availability and the application process, visit revitalizeoahu.org/tcmf-info.
It is a go….