NORWICH – Stephen Stark is out, but a partner in Alteren LLC claims the former developer’s big idea behind the once-proposed $62 million resort project in the Town of Norwich isn’t.
“The project is absolutely not dead,” said Alteren Managing Partner Bill Bobo, contending that the company is now taking a more “deliberate” approach compared to Stark’s efforts.
Previous plans – which included building a 155-room hotel, 70 up-scale housing structures, retail stores, an 18-hole golf course, equestrian facilities, and an outdoor amphitheater on nearly 2,000 acres just east of the City of Norwich – were first announced in July 2003. The project lingered for three years, however, passing by two dates for groundbreaking in 2004 and 2005. Updates from the developers quieted in the summer of 2006; Stark said New York Regional Interconnect Inc.’s power line proposal was what stalled progress.
“There were some setbacks,” Bobo said. “But it (Alteren) is not dead, it’s not even on life support.”
Without offering specific details, Bobo said the initial hotel design, pending any possible changes, will remain the centerpiece of the proposal. The name Alteren could change, he said.
“We are re-evaluating what we are doing,” he said. “We are not going as fast as the original plans called for.”
Above drafting specific plans, Bobo said securing investment for Alteren is the company’s immediate focus, adding that the six-person partnership is “doing very well” in that endeavor. He admitted New York Regional Interconnect’s power line proposal is still a “significant” concern that has hampered development thus far and, if built, will kill the prospect of the resort altogether.
“If you were putting up a house that would be near that, would you want to be staring at these power lines?” Bobo said. “We would not move forward ... this (NYRI) has to die, if it dies.”
If approved by the state Public Service Commission, NYRI would plant 115 foot-tall steel support towers across the western view of Alteren’s current 500-acre site located above county Route 32, between the East Main and Hale Street bridges.
In February Bobo, with associates Joe LoVullo and Greg Sheldon, a Norwich resident, met with Town of Norwich Supervisor Dave Law and City of Norwich Mayor Joseph Maiurano to re-affirm the project’s status.
“I’m very supportive of them,” Law said. “They’ve readjusted their thinking and they’re going to come back with some very positive ideas.”
Law said the town and city will still lend support to seek federal and state grant funding for extending or constructing a water and sewer infrastructure leading to the resort. Both Bobo and Law said Alteren has yet to gain the necessary regulatory approval from state agencies like the Department of Transportation and the Department of Environmental Conservation.
Alteren should have a more concrete direction in the next few weeks, Bobo said, but he does not want to prematurely announce plans that could change.
“We like the Norwich area,” he said. “We think the people are phenomenal and we want to do something positive there.”
Alteren’s Norwich office is located at 2 Penny Lane off of county Rt. 32 near the Sidney Federal Credit Union and the former Whipple’s hardware and lumber store. The company’s headquarters has also moved from Clarence to Buffalo.