Pictured, from left, are Main Street Warsaw Events Coordinator Mackenzie Parker, MSW Member Relations Manager Scott Wiley, Forte Residential Inc. Founder Tom Van Meter, Forte Residential Inc. Human Resource Manager Lisa Glon, Forte Residential Inc. President Elanna Van Meter, Forte Residential Inc. Vice-President of Operations Missy Hurley, MSW Executive Director Rob Parker, and MSW Board Treasurer Nathan Conley. InkFreeNews photo by Liz Shepherd.

By Liz Shepherd
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — Forte Residential Inc. in Warsaw received a $5,000 facade grant from Main Street Warsaw on Wednesday, Jan. 10.

The business, located at 120 S. Lake St., is working on making improvements to the building’s front steps.

Elanna Van Meter, Forte Residential Inc. president, said the steps had significantly shifted to the point where one step was not meeting regulations and was a potential hazard.

“It’s a huge project because they found the foundation underneath wasn’t adequate,” said Van Meter. “They had to remove the granite steps and try to not break the granite in the process. Thankfully, they were able to preserve the original steps, get the foundation replaced, and get the steps back in.”

Van Meter said the project should be done sometime in the first quarter of the year.

“This building is expensive to maintain and we try to preserve the integrity of the building,” said Van Meter. “It’s helping the community by being able to keep this building as historically accurate as we can.”

“The facade program more than anything else is to restore downtown buildings to the historical beauty that they once were,” said Rob Parker, MSW executive director. “I’m very thankful that Forte has the foresight to restore the building to its original beauty instead of taking shortcuts.”

“Preserving the granite is not cheap but it’s very important,” said Van Meter. “Forte is very thankful for the grants and the opportunity to have that contribution toward preservation of the building.”

Forte Residential also received facade grants from the program in 2020 and 2021.

MSW’s facade grant program is funded by the City of Warsaw. Qualified applicants may obtain matching grant funds for facades, storefronts, awnings, and signs, depending on the scope of the work. The purpose of the program is to stimulate efforts to improve the street appearance of downtown Warsaw’s commercial and business exteriors.

The program now offers up to $10,000 in matching funds per applicant per grant cycle, which may be under one or more grant applications. All grants awarded require matching dollar for dollar expenditures by the owner or tenant.

Applications for 2024 facade grants are currently open.