Niles city council approved tax incentives Wednesday night that could boost the number of businesses in the downtown area.  

The tax incentives would ride the wave of positive economic growth now that the city is out fiscal emergency.  

"There's a need for something to happen down here," Brent Ross said, owner of Stoneyard Tavern & Grill. 

The "For Sale" and "For Rent" signs in the windows of storefronts and buildings in downtown Niles are nothing new, but the city's mayor says it's time to get aggressive in filling these empty spaces.

"We don't have anyone knocking at the door right now, but we're hoping that we can advertise this and market this in hopes to attract potential business owners to move into our downtown," Steve Mientkiewicz, mayor of Niles.

"The incentives should spark economic development in the downtown area" Mientkiewicz says.

"We're looking towards more of a smaller business atmosphere," he said. "The brick and mortar stores, the mom and pop stores, we want to bring in a little coffee shop, another craft beer food or winery."

The city is focusing on growing and retaining businesses in the Route 46 area, along Route 422 and in the Robbins Avenue corridor.

"If there was tax incentives in place, if somebody was kind of on the line with whether they wanted to start a business in this area or not, it could get them over the hump," Ross said.

Already in place is a partnership with the Western Reserve Port Authority and the Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber is in place to bring new life to larger abandoned spaces.

The chamber has helped the city create an online vacant commercial property registry to track the buildings that could become the home of new larger businesses.