By Paul Thompson

Northeast News

June 7, 2016

KANSAS CITY, Missouri – The Independence Avenue CID handed out nearly $10,000 worth of rebate checks on Tuesday, June 7 to businesses who had invested in their storefronts along the avenue.

The Express Stop BP Station at 4815 Independence collected a check for $4,250, while the restaurant El Paso Del Norte collected $5,000. The BP station recently underwent a full renovation and addition, with the CID covering the costs for new exterior lighting and a facade improvement. Location manager Ziad Musallet, brother of owner Eddie Musallet, accepted the check on behalf of the business.

El Paso Del Norte (3430 Independence Avenue) was actually collecting it’s second check as part of the CID’s Storefront Improvement Rebate (SIR) program. The restaurant was one of the first along the corridor to take advantage of the rebate, investing in a new paint job and other facade improvements. They earned a $5,000 rebate from the CID in November of 2015 to help pay for their improvements. on Tuesday, El Paso Del Norte earned another $5,000 rebate, which is off-setting the costs for significant improvements to the restaurant’s parking lot.

The improvements included three planters that were added to the parking lot, which were made out of re-purposed limestone from the former Thatcher School.

“It had lost it’s color, it had some potholes; it had some rough spots,” said Mike Iniguez, minority owner of the family-owned business. “The scope was to re-seal it, re-stripe it, create traffic flow, and on top of that they really wanted us to add some green spaces, so that’s why we’ve got the planters here.”

The SIR rebate is available to any commercial or residential property that falls within the Independence Avenue CID corridor. Qualifying property owners can then be reimbursed for up to 50% of improvement costs, up to a maximum of $5,000. The Independence Avenue CID can be reached through the Northeast Chamber of Commerce at (816) 231-3312.