Planners aim for boutique hotel in Norwich within two years
The Development Chenango Corporation is moving ahead with plans to attract developers to transform 14-16 S. Broad St. into a boutique hotel. The agency says the building has potential for 45 rooms, a restaurant and a conference area, and could possibly be completed within the next two years. (Photo by Shawn Magrath)
NORWICH - The Development Chenango Corporation (DCC), the economic development arm of Commerce Chenango, says downtown Norwich could see a boutique hotel by 2023 if all goes accordingly.
Just one month after the agency announced a purchase agreement for 14-16 S. Broad St., former home to the SUNY Morrisville Norwich campus, Commerce Chenango President and CEO Kerri Green said there’s already been interest from developers to overhaul the building to suit overnight accomodations, meaning Commerce Chenango’s years-long effort to root a quality hotel in Norwich could quickly take off when DCC closes on the building next month.
The building, with ownership downstate, has been largely vacant for more than a decade. The only current occupant is a custom print shop business on the first floor, which DCC has no intentions of evicting.
Green said the undertaking is a positive step forward for the city and the county at large, which is currently losing money to travelers who find lodging outside the county in nearby Hamilton, Oneonta, or Binghamton. Establishing a hotel has been a blip on the radar for DCC and Commerce Chenango since DCC released an accommodations study in 2014 affirming a long-held notion that the lack of quality lodging in Chenango is putting the county at an economic disadvantage.
“We lose such a ripple effect of money from people who go other places to eat and stay and spend their money,” Green said at a meeting of the county’s planning and economic development committee last week. “We think this is really going to be a great thing for everybody in the ripple effect of this project.”
The DCC is pitching the building as having potential for 45 rooms, along with a kitchen and restaurant, and enough space left for a large meeting area. The agency has already completed inspection of the building, appraisal, and an environmental study of the project. Hopes are to make it as appealing to developers as possible when bids are solicited later this year.
Green said current plans are to lease the building to a developer or hotel chain and introduce a progressive PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) over the next several years to return the property back to the local tax rolls, though she said she’s not sure what that agreement will look like. Keeping the property taxable has been a priority for officials on the Chenango County Board of Supervisors, some of whom argued against purchasing the building to house court offices in 2013, thereby removing it from the tax rolls.
Nevertheless, the DCC is optimistic. It’s even looking ahead to a fall fund-rasing campaign for the hotel project. The agency has a goal to raise $1 million for improvements - again, to make it more attractive to potential developers, Green noted.
“There’s nothing major, but there are some things that should be upgraded,” she added. “It will make it more attractive to a developer if we could take care of these things that have to happen.”
The building itself is in good shape. On the first floor, there’s kitchen equipment, a refrigerator and freezer, restrooms, and an available dining space where a short-lived restaurant operated years ago. That may make the building more appealing to developers, said Green. The second floor still has a classroom-style layout from when SUNY Morrisville occupied the space 15 years ago. The DCC guesses that floor will need the most work because of the necessary renovations. The third floor is a shell, making it easy to configure as needed.
The DCC plans to solicit bids after closing on the building in August. Green said she thinks it could be completed by 2023; faster if a developer is excited to move on it.
“We feel like this is really possible,” Green said, noting that such a large-scale investment could be a draw for other developers in future. “And the time is now as things are opening back up and people are excited to get out and travel. There’s some air of hope here that great things are happening.”
Just one month after the agency announced a purchase agreement for 14-16 S. Broad St., former home to the SUNY Morrisville Norwich campus, Commerce Chenango President and CEO Kerri Green said there’s already been interest from developers to overhaul the building to suit overnight accomodations, meaning Commerce Chenango’s years-long effort to root a quality hotel in Norwich could quickly take off when DCC closes on the building next month.
The building, with ownership downstate, has been largely vacant for more than a decade. The only current occupant is a custom print shop business on the first floor, which DCC has no intentions of evicting.
Green said the undertaking is a positive step forward for the city and the county at large, which is currently losing money to travelers who find lodging outside the county in nearby Hamilton, Oneonta, or Binghamton. Establishing a hotel has been a blip on the radar for DCC and Commerce Chenango since DCC released an accommodations study in 2014 affirming a long-held notion that the lack of quality lodging in Chenango is putting the county at an economic disadvantage.
“We lose such a ripple effect of money from people who go other places to eat and stay and spend their money,” Green said at a meeting of the county’s planning and economic development committee last week. “We think this is really going to be a great thing for everybody in the ripple effect of this project.”
The DCC is pitching the building as having potential for 45 rooms, along with a kitchen and restaurant, and enough space left for a large meeting area. The agency has already completed inspection of the building, appraisal, and an environmental study of the project. Hopes are to make it as appealing to developers as possible when bids are solicited later this year.
Green said current plans are to lease the building to a developer or hotel chain and introduce a progressive PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) over the next several years to return the property back to the local tax rolls, though she said she’s not sure what that agreement will look like. Keeping the property taxable has been a priority for officials on the Chenango County Board of Supervisors, some of whom argued against purchasing the building to house court offices in 2013, thereby removing it from the tax rolls.
Nevertheless, the DCC is optimistic. It’s even looking ahead to a fall fund-rasing campaign for the hotel project. The agency has a goal to raise $1 million for improvements - again, to make it more attractive to potential developers, Green noted.
“There’s nothing major, but there are some things that should be upgraded,” she added. “It will make it more attractive to a developer if we could take care of these things that have to happen.”
The building itself is in good shape. On the first floor, there’s kitchen equipment, a refrigerator and freezer, restrooms, and an available dining space where a short-lived restaurant operated years ago. That may make the building more appealing to developers, said Green. The second floor still has a classroom-style layout from when SUNY Morrisville occupied the space 15 years ago. The DCC guesses that floor will need the most work because of the necessary renovations. The third floor is a shell, making it easy to configure as needed.
The DCC plans to solicit bids after closing on the building in August. Green said she thinks it could be completed by 2023; faster if a developer is excited to move on it.
“We feel like this is really possible,” Green said, noting that such a large-scale investment could be a draw for other developers in future. “And the time is now as things are opening back up and people are excited to get out and travel. There’s some air of hope here that great things are happening.”
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