CHICAGO (CBS) — A lifeline got here Monday for Chicago’s iconic live performance halls and efficiency venues which have been crushed by the pandemic for greater than a 12 months now.
A complete of $16 billion in federal reduction cash is opening up after for venues across the nation after months-long waits and technical delays.
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CBS 2’s Tara Molina checked in Monday with native venue house owners making use of for that assist. These house owners stated they’ve been holding on, with no revenue, for greater than a 12 months.
It was additionally greater than a 12 months in the past when the town divvied up grant cash to 100 venues. However we’re informed that was not sufficient to maintain them this entire time.
House owners stated this federal reduction would be the make-or-break for a lot of of your Chicago favorites.
“Our largest followers, a few of them are saying: ‘You already know what guys? I can’t come to a present. Not for a 12 months. Not till there’s a vaccine,’” Tim Tuten, proprietor of The Hideout at 1354 W. Wabansia Ave., stated on April 24 of final 12 months.
Now a complete 12 months has handed, and there may be now a vaccine for the novel coronavirus. However levels are nonetheless naked, and seats are nonetheless empty throughout Chicago.
And regardless of no revenue, no income, and no crowds, venue house owners have nonetheless been on the road for lease, utilities, insurance coverage, and different such bills.
That’s the reason they are saying the brand new federal Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program means every thing proper now.
Click on right here for the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant portal.
“We’ve wanted this for a very long time,” stated Chris Bauman of Zenith Music Group – which operates the Avondale Music Corridor at 3336 N. Milwaukee Ave. and several other different venues, festivals, and promotion firms.
A Small Enterprise Administration web site simply went dwell so venue house owners can lastly apply for the federal funds earmarked for them within the COVID-19 reduction bundle signed into legislation months in the past.
“We are actually on fumes proper now, and this couldn’t come at a greater time,” stated Joe Shanahan, proprietor and founding father of Metro Chicago, 3730 N. Clark St.
“This is essential not solely to us, however to Chicago tradition,” added Bauman.
They talked to us just about, minutes after submitting their purposes for this federal reduction – one thing they are saying may change all of it for them and others within the metropolis, with that $16 billion {dollars} set to be divvied up by the SBA.
“Our business is going through a mass extinction with out these funds,” Bauman stated.
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“It’s unsustainable for any enterprise to attempt to exist with none income or revenue for greater than 14 months,” added Shanahan.
Shanahan stated the scenario is particularly dire on condition that whereas enterprise has ceased, bills haven’t.
“What doesn’t change? My property taxes are coming due. My liquor licenses are coming due,” he stated. “Once more, will they transfer the aim put up once more for us? We don’t know. That’s after we roll up our sleeves tomorrow not understanding when the funds are literally going to be in our account.”
Bauman added that the uncertainty about when a full reopening can occur can also be nonetheless an issue.
“We nonetheless should not have a day we may be at one hundred pc capability, which is significant for our companies,” he stated.
They received’t understand how a lot cash they’re eligible for till they hear again on their purposes.
“We’re cautiously optimistic,” Shanahan stated.
The SBA set this grant up in approach that enables the venues that misplaced probably the most to the pandemic to get the primary shot on the cash, as a approach to assist house owners with probably the most on the road after ready all this time.
As to when the venues will see the cash, an announcement reads: “The SBA will start reviewing the purposes right this moment; it’s anticipated the primary funds shall be distributed in Might and candidates can view the standing within the software portal. The grant quantity and precedence award intervals are as per outlined within the legislation.”
The SBA broke stated for an eligible venue in operation as of Jan. 1, 2019, grants shall be equal to or 45 p.c of their gross 2019 earned income or $10 million, whichever is much less. For a venue that opened after Jan. 1, 2019, the grants shall be for the common month-to-month gross earned income for every full month they have been in operation that 12 months, or $10 million – once more, whichever is much less.
The SBA famous that per the American Rescue Plan Act, an entity that obtained a Paycheck Safety Program, or PPP, mortgage after Dec. 27, 2020 could have the worth of that mortgage deducted from its grant quantity. For instance, the SBA stated, if a jazz membership acquired a $10,000 PPP mortgage on Feb. 1 of this 12 months – then utilized for a Shuttered Venue Operators Grant or SVOG – based mostly on a calculation that its earned income loss would have been $100,000, the SVOG grant can be lowered to $90,000.
PPP debtors who obtained a mortgage earlier than Dec. 27 won’t have something deducted from their SVOG.
The primary 14 days of grant awards will go to venues that suffered a gross income lack of 90 p.c or better. The following two weeks shall be for venues that misplaced 70 p.c or extra in gross income, and afterward, grants will start for venues that misplaced 25 p.c or extra in gross income between one quarter of 2019 and the corresponding quarter of 2020.
A complete of 20 p.c of whole funding is reserved for that third part, the SBA stated.
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There’s additionally a $2 billion small-employer set-aside for venues with as much as 50 staff, which crosses over all the above precedence intervals.
