The City of Sharon has announced on Thursday that $75,000 in ARP funds were awarded to significant revitalization and development projects for the downtown area.

These projects include a brunch/lunch cafe, which includes a pet boutique and "barkery," a rentable photo studio with a short-term rental apartment and the expansion of a long-time Sharon business to create additional room for more customers downtown.

The long-time business in question is The Penn-Ohio Cigar Shop, located at 91 East State Street. The business will be getting a $10,000 expansion with the funds going toward improvements like upgrading the facade windows and moving out the frontage space about five feet.

The facade change will allow for additional inside seating and potentially increase visitors.

"We are a downtown staple and a destination for Sharon because our visitors come specifically to visit our store and cigar lounges," said owner, George Joseph.

Joseph added that the upgraded facade and increased frontage will provide more visibility for the downtown area, and that future plans include upgrading the second floor converting it to either an additional lounge or rental space.

The new brunch/lunch cafe has yet to be named, but it will be run by Bergen Giordani and Morgan Chretien, owners of One Hot Cookie in the Mahoning Valley. 

The three locations are near the Vine Avenue / State Street corridor adjacent to the former Huntington Bank building site.

Sharon City Manager, Bob Fiscus says the city had decided to pause the process for a few months due to how ambitious city officials had been with allocating the 2022 funds and to make sure they were given the proper support to take off.

"With this round of ARPA funds, we are really focusing specifically on the downtown near the former bank site to help build are business district location," Fiscus said.