Real estate investment firm Jamestown has created a $50 million fund to offer relief to small-business tenants as states around the country begin to reopen. Eligible Jamestown tenants will receive funds after they develop reopening plans with their local Jamestown property management team, says Michael Phillips, president of the company. Tenants can use the funds to cover both hard and soft operating expenses, as well as measures to comply with local, state and federal COVID-19 guidelines.
 
“Our priority during the last six weeks has been to provide ongoing support and guidance so small-business owners could retool their operations and adapt to an ever-changing environment,” Phillips said. “The addition of a $50 million relief program will prove to be a critical resource to our property managers and tenants as they work together to keep our small-business communities running. The businesses that call our properties home are the backbones of our neighborhoods, and we want to make sure our local shops, restaurants and event spaces have what they need to create a new normal that is right for them, and their guests.”

In March, Jamestown launched an online resource guide to help its small-business tenants find materials about maintaining operations, as well as financing, health and safety, and best practices for operating and reopening in a COVID-19 environment. Now that more states are preparing to reopen, the company needs to expand its support to financial assistance Phillips says.

Chef Anne Quatrano, who operates a restaurant at Jamestown’s Ponce City Market, in Atlanta, said: “In today's economic climate, chefs need more from their landlord than just four walls and a kitchen. We need a collaborative partner who understands there is a greater community benefit in helping our restaurant succeed.”

Jamestown’s Charitable Foundation was an early supporter during the pandemic of the James Beard Foundation's Relief Fund. The company partnered with local organizations to launch Food Fight GA. The endeavor buys weekly grocery boxes from local farmers and distributes them to struggling food-service workers and their families in Georgia. In New York City, Jamestown and the West Side Community Fund launched a grant program to assist vulnerable small businesses on the West Side of Manhattan.