Hall County recently received nearly $500,000 of competitive grant money — part of which was awarded to continue the revitalization of the Black and Cooley drives area — making it the only county in the state to receive the revitalization grant.

"Hall County also received some CHIP money under a set aside known as a revitalization area strategy for $198,792, so they did extremely well this year," said Brian Williamson, assistant commissioner for community development at the Georgia Department of Community Affairs.

Hall County was awarded $298,725 for down payment assistance for income-qualified, first-time home buyers, and an additional $198,792 for its revitalization projects through the Community HOME Investment Program, known as CHIP. Gainesville received a CHIP grant for $300,000.

The $198,792 was "essentially bonus money" that Hall received along with just four other Georgia cities for its revitalization programs, Williamson said.

"These are competitive grants, and the locality has to compete and make sure the project is feasible, that all the technical detail is in place, the partnerships are in place and private sector partners are in place to fulfill what can be a challenging project to undertake," Williamson said. "And Hall County does a great job with this sort of partnership."