“Sure enough, it showed that I had lost $157,000 instead of making a profit. They thought that I had make $62,000,” owner Tammy Russell said. Credit: Brandon Rodriguez

Editor’s note: This story was updated to include a more recent statement from LiftFund explaining why officials there reversed a rejection of Candlelight Pourhouse’s application.

After media scrutiny into why Candlelight Pourhouse was apparently passed over for a city recovery grant it applied for, the St. Mary’s Strip restaurant was retroactively awarded the money on Wednesday.

The 28-year-old business applied for the funds through the city’s COVID-19/Construction Recovery Grant Program, which was established to provide grants of up to $35,000 to businesses harmed by the pandemic and ongoing construction projects.

Like other businesses on the Strip, owner Tammy Russell said hers had racked up losses due to COVID shutdowns and long-delayed street repairs. However, she told KSAT News on Sunday that she’d received an email saying she’d been turned down for the recovery grant she sought — even though others around her had been approved.

The Current began making inquiries about Russell’s case with city officials earlier this week. Around 11 a.m. Wednesday, the Candlelight owner told the Current she was unsure how to keep her business afloat without the help.

However, shortly after 1:30 p.m. that same day, Russell called the Current again on the phone to say she’d just received retroactive approval for her grant.

“Now I can rest a bit easier,” she said, choking up.

Officials with the nonprofit LiftFund, which administers the grant program, said they reversed their initial decision based, not on media scrutiny, but new documents  provided by Russell.

“LiftFund evaluates each application based on the information and documentation submitted,” LiftFund Senior Vice President of Communications Martha N. Zurita said in a statement emailed to the Current.  “We reached out to the owner to shed light on the details of her application, and she shared that additional information was now available. After reviewing additional documentation provided, we reassessed her application.”

Russell said her initial denial notice included no information about why she’d been turned down. However, she said she’d finally been able to speak on Tuesday to a LiftFund representative. That representative said Candlelight turned too much of a profit from 2021 to 2022 to qualify, Russell told the Current.

“I said, ‘I don’t know if you saw my paperwork correctly, but I lost money,'” the business owner explained.

Russell said she also admonished LiftFund for keeping her in the dark during the process.

“I said, ‘Well, if you’d have been calling me weekly like y’all are supposed to, this could have been rectified immediately,” Russell told the Current. “So, she asked, ‘Can you send the paperwork back?’ So, I sent her my 2022 taxes, and sure enough, it showed that I had lost $157,000 instead of making a profit. They thought that I had made $62,000.”

When the Current asked District 1 Councilman Mario Bravo Tuesday about Russell’s situation, he was adamant she should have received the funding.

“I’ve elevated this to the City Manager’s office, and they’re investigating it now,” he said.

Bravo acknowledged that Candlelight was one of the Strip businesses that had suffered the most financial hardship. However, he added that the grant process is “competitive” and that there isn’t enough funding for everyone who needs it.

Candlelight Pourhouse, 107 Kings Court, has been in operation since 1995. Credit: Brandon Rodriguez

The city’s COVID-19/Construction Recovery Grant Program received 218 applications representing 15 separate business corridors. LiftFund continues to review and award applicants following a timeline presented to city council on January 11, a city spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

The city will release a complete list of funded applicants for the program in June, the spokesperson also said.

To be eligible for funding, a business must prove that recent construction caused it to lose $10,000 or more in revenue in 2021. Qualifying businesses also must have opened before Jan. 1, 2021 and still remain in operation.

Candlelight has been in business since 1995, making it one of the longest-surviving businesses on the Strip.

“I hope for every business that they get approved, because when they get a message like mine, it kills a little bit of your spirit,” Russell said. 

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This article appears in Apr 5-18, 2023.