Bloomington business owners on the lookout for a facelift have cause to celebrate. A new city program is dangling a financial carrot, offering grants to cover half the costs of sprucing up their building exteriors. Mayor Tim Busse dropped the news about the facade improvement program, which potentially puts cash in the pockets of business owners aiming to revamp their storefronts, signs, and more.

"This program makes an investment in our business community," Mayor Busse said, as per a statement obtained by BloomingtonMN.gov. He sees the program as not only spikes curb appeal for individual shops but also getting cash registers singing across town. But there's a hitch: businesses gotta foot half of the bill themselves, and they won't see a dime until they've forked over their funds and shown the receipts to prove it.

Time is of the essence with applications accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis. The city's also giving priority to businesses camped out at strategic commercial hot spots like American and Portland or Central Lyndale.

Interested store owners should head over to blm.mn/site-facade for the lowdown or fire off an email to [email protected].