Baltimore will offer grants of up to $200,000 to downtown restaurants as part of its bid to lift up the struggling commercial district.

Applicants can be new or existing eateries within a 106-block area that includes Lexington Market and the Convention Center.

“Baltimore’s restaurants don’t just feed us—they create jobs, power our economy, and bring people together,” Mayor Brandon Scott said in a statement announcing the grant program, called the Baltimore Culinary Exchange, or BCX.

It’s part of Scott’s wide-ranging Downtown RISE initiative, a 10-year plan to improve the area. The plans call for everything from a comprehensive return-to-office strategy to making it easier for small eateries to get their liquor licenses.

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Downtown and the Inner Harbor have seen numerous businesses close in recent years, some because of declining foot traffic in the area and other economic factors. Infrastructure issues, too, have posed problems: Several eateries on North Charles Street were forced to shut down for weeks last year after an underground fire.

Grants fall into two categories: Operations-only grants of up $40,000, and larger grants of up to $200,000 that also cover property improvements.

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News of the program was welcome to Sumayyah Bilal, the Codetta Bakeshop owner who has been working on a new storefront on Howard Street. If her business won a grant, “that would be a big step in the right direction” to opening. As a practicing Muslim, she wants to avoid traditional debts to finance the buildout of her space, which she estimates will cost nearly $900,000. Building and renovation costs have “significantly” risen since 2023, when she first announced plans for the cafe, particularly as she learned she needed to add a gas line to the structure.

Downtown Partnership will administer the grants, which are also paid for by the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act. The money will help business owners both “stabilize operations and enhance their spaces,” Shelonda Stokes, president of the Downtown Partnership, said in a statement.

The deadline to apply is May 30.