T-Mobile grant spurs downtown creative incubator
From the left, Downtown Moses Lake Association Treasurer Denise Kindler, DMLA President Rosenda Henley, DMLA Executive Director Lexi Smith, Moses Lake Mayor David Curnel and T-Mobile Senior Manager for SMRA Sales Geoff Dean pose with a giant check for $50,000 T-Mobile donated to the DMLA on Thursday to help fund the association’s downtown business incubator.
Courtesy photo
MOSES LAKE — T-Mobile gave a $50,000 grant to the Downtown Moses Lake Association to help the association develop the city’s proposed creative district.
“It is a big award,” said Moses Lake Mayor David Curnel, who attended the noon ceremony in front of T-Mobile’s store on Stratford Road. “This is going to give us the seed money we need to develop our creative district downtown, and that’s the importance of today.”
According to Lindsey Buckner, T-Mobile’s regional marketing manager for eastern Washington, the grant is one of 25 given to small towns and cities across the United States this year as part of the company’s commitment to help fund community development projects.
“Over the next five years, we plan on providing $25 million in grants for community development projects just like this one,” Buckner said.
It was the only grant given to a town in the state of Washington, according to a T-Mobile press release.
The DMLA’s executive director, Lexi Smith, said the grant will allow the association to begin work on the creative incubator “as soon as possible,” though she did not say where in downtown the incubator is planned.
“We’ve been in touch with a property owner, and we want to start making renovations,” she said. “We have a little bit more work to do before it’s ready to move in.”
Smith said the idea behind the creative incubator will be to give creative individuals and business start-ups a “low-risk” place to come together, work and sell their products.
Ideally, businesses and artists who can make it on their own will move out, hopefully into a downtown storefront, Smith said.
“So that way we get them set up and ready to go, so we’re physically bringing people into our downtown and getting more businesses down there that we would love to see,” she said.
Smith said with the grant, she is hopeful the creative incubator can be running in downtown Moses Lake by early 2022.
Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.