NORWICH — The $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) grant project was awarded to enhance business and housing opportunities, improve streetscape, and expand arts and cultural amenities.
The plan also hopes to jumpstart the city with job creation and stimulate the local economy. The final slate was approved by New York State (NYS) last year.
Funding is to be provided on a reimbursement basis, meaning sponsors will fund the projects up front and once complete, a second approval from the state will occur.
If all guidelines are met, the reimbursement will be granted from the pool of DRI funds.

American Avenue Project

The City of Norwich received DRI funds in the amount of $470,000 to create a safe and welcoming space with better lighting, more amenities, and improved pedestrian access.

City of Norwich Community Development Director Erik Scrivener said, “For what we want to do down there, it’s going to take significantly more investment. We know we need a next step and have raised enough money with The City of Norwich B.I.D., Commerce Chenango, DRI recipients and local foundations in putting a plan together.”

He said they’re looking at using American Avenue and other projects to tie into the Hotel, Arts Council, the Unguentine Building, etc. and create a sense of place and a destination in Norwich. It’s an economical development plan with market studies to provide their next steps in investment in the community.

Scrivener said they’re at a point of waiting for their contract to move forward for the American Avenue project and at the mercy of the state. They were informed it would take awhile to get the contract to them. He said the state will decide on what happens next with projects that may not move forward and it will be up to the state to decide what happens to that funding.

“We know the funding stays here but the question is, does that money get allocated into existing projects that need more money or what happens,” said Scrivener. “We just don’t know as direction will come from the state.”

Scrivener also shared NYS grant guidelines are to use approved contractors with 30% of the work to be done by minorities or women owned businesses. This can be problematic for our area but if due diligence is documented, this can be acknowledged and a waiver may be submitted.


Small Grant Fund

Commerce Chenango Economic Development Assistant Jenna Ostrander said Commerce Chenango has taken on the small grants fund that was approved in the final slate of projects.The fund totals $600,000 with $400,000 allotted for building renovations and other small project fees, and $200,000 dedicated to public art projects.

Commerce Chenango Executive Director and CEO Salvatore Testani said, “One of the things I feel our role is to inform people and keep them up to date, help people work through challenges, break down any misconceptions, and mostly to make sure that money gets invested in Downtown Norwich,” said Testani.

He said there are a lot of moving parts and not one orchestrator of this; each of the individual project leaders are responsible to execute their projects and grant money.

“We submitted over $13 million of grant requests and knowingly received the “$10 million,” which is the highest amount for this grant award,” said Testani. “So there’s $3 million dollars of projects that could potentially be funded. We're also working on trying to secure some money to identify ways to get people to want to shop, work and live downtown.”

The Colonia Theater Project

According to Officials, the Colonia Theater was awarded DRI grant funds of $165,000 to upgrade the theater with improved seating, a digital addition to the marquee, and more family friendly entertainment options, but they turned back the grant money for the project.
15-19 Lackawanna (Rita’s) Project
Mike Hayes and Adam Bosworth of Rita's received DRI funds of $140,000 for the restoration of 15-19 Lackawanna Avenue. The location is having exterior work done now and previously stated they look to develop the last building in the chain of three by adding electricity, heat, and water.

Officials said they aren’t sure if Hayes and Bosworth are going to accept the DRI funds. Neither sponsor could be reached for comment at this time.

Parks Projects
The Parks project was awarded $1,097,000 to update East Park, West Park, and Guernsey Park. The proposed upgrade to Guernsey Park was to include an outdoor movie theater but due to the ownership of the park being a public entity; funding may not be awarded for that project.
Friends of the Park representative Eric Larsen said he thinks it’s too early to say the grant funds cannot be accepted.
“There are some hurdles to jump but we may yet make it,” said Larsen. “We’re working to overcome some obstacles.”
The Boutique Hotel Project

The Hotel Project is moving forward. Mike and Dan O’Reilly from The Principal Design Group are purchasing the building from the Development Chenango Corporation. They were awarded $3,360,000 from NYS to create the anticipated 47-unit hotel complete with restaurant and bar.

Mike O’Reilly said, “We’re working through the building purchase process currently and have secured brand approval. We’re also working with NYS on both funding sources and are 100% committed to accepting both, and complying with their stipulations.”

He said they aren’t providing any hard dates on the project as their intent is to continue working as expeditiously as they can.

“It has been frustrating to hear about people who weren’t familiar with what NYS would require; this is standard with all of the various grants we work with regularly,” said O’Reilly. “Too many people wasted everyone’s time. There were a lot of good projects pushed aside for those who have now backed-out.”

The Unguentine Building Project

The Unguentine project is moving forward. Sponsors Adam Spence and Garth Coviello were awarded $3,006,000 for their project to build 27 market rate apartments on the second, third, and fourth floors with commercial space for professional businesses on the first floor. They hope to break ground next spring but their schedule depends on how quickly the team can finalize designs and work scopes within budget, and then close on the financing.

Adam Spence said he and Garth Coviello are the members of 20 American Avenue, LLC, which owns the “Unguentine Building.”

“We are working with a number of companies to develop construction estimates based on designs prepared by architects Crawford & Stearns of Syracuse, NY,” said Spence.

He said Friday of last week they had an Environmental Hazard Materials Survey performed by Arctic Enterprises of East Syracuse and are doing a lot of preparation at this time.

Spence said they are working within the guidelines of the DRI, and intend to do whatever is necessary to retain eligibility for the grant. He said they understand other recipients developing smaller projects may see the DRI’s program as onerous and the appeal may be slighted.

“But the economics of a project as large as ours is different,” said Spence. “The larger the project, the more that these “strict requirements” such as environmental studies, enhanced efficiency requirements, et cetera become part of the ordinary course of commercial real estate development, with or without state funding. We would probably have to deal with these requirements anyway.”

He said more importantly, although everyone has a strong preference for private funding, a project like this would be virtually impossible without the type of assistance that the DRI provides.

“This project and other projects on American Avenue (including the DRI supported American Avenue streetscaping project) will help turn the street into a vibrant place to live, work, and play,” said Spence.
 
Garth Coviello said “We are excited and grateful for the DRI award. This project could not launch without funding of this sort.”

Coviello said some of the requirements are likely to add additional expense to the project or take extra planning and effort but the value of the DRI grant in their case significantly outweighs the extra costs and they appreciate the requirements are intended to benefit the community and the state.


The Heritage Building

Sponsor Scott Sutton is moving forward with grant funds of $292,000 to renovate The Heritage Building and will create a healthy food market and brewery inside. He said they will try to provide an all electric powered building.

Sutton said, “The technology for the sprinkler systems has changed in the last decade or so making it much more affordable, so we put sprinklers throughout the entire building and added all new windows in the back.
The front of the building must remain historic for a number of years, so we made repairs to the front windows.”

He said the building is three stories and they have completed extremely nice high end - all electric apartments on the second and third floors. Six apartments in total. The market and brewery has not been started and project completion is not yet scheduled.

“We’ve completed all of the DRI paperwork, preparing business plans and financing and getting ready to pull commercial building permits for the bottom floor,” said Sutton. “We did go through the O’Reilly brothers at Principle Design and their Intern Matty Stafford who completed the plans for the downstairs portion of the project.”

Sutton said, “The positive is we get a lot of encouragement from the community because this would be kind of an anchor project in that area, lifting it up. If any down side, in doing a project like this, there is a ton of paperwork and skilled labor is very difficult to find right now.”

He said finding minority and women owned suppliers was easy and they purchased their Kitchen and Bathrooms from Parry’s in Hamilton; which is a woman owned business. Meeting that criteria was really easy.

“It’s hard in this area to find a woman or minority owned electrician or plumber but a supplier for kitchen apartments, or brewery equipment is easy to do” said Sutton.


The Chenango Arts Council Project

The Chenango Arts Council (CAC) was awarded $570,000 to upgrade the Martin W. Keppel Theater with new seating, lighting, and audio-visual equipment.

Project Sponsor and CAC Executive Director Alecia ONeill said, “I’m wrapping up the DRI paperwork now for the three phases of our project. The first phase is sound and the equipment has been delivered. The second part will be lights, which may overlap with sound and then the third phase will be the cosmetic upgrades to the theater which will include floor, carpet, chairs, curtains, and the stage.”

She said the theater seats are a touchy subject because 97% of them have a brass name on them and she wants to respect the history of predecessors with the most recent renovations completed in 1996. She said she would like to bridge the past and present to bring comfort and modernicity to the theater.

“We strive to keep business local. It’s a challenge to adhere to the parameters of the DRI guidelines in our little town and to keep it local and diverse are often not the same,” she said.

“The longest phase of the project will be the completion of the theater,” said ONeill. “The main reason we started this to begin with was to make the theater more comfortable and a better experience for the audience and to upgrade technology. This will help bring in the more modern technology required shows and performances, making it an exciting experience to be here.

ONeill said they want their customers and businesses to enjoy the upgrades they deserve making it a win-win for performers and the crew as they’ve been dealing with thirty year old equipment.

She said they are hopeful for an end date for lights and sound before the New York City Christmas Show.

More information on the downtown Norwich DRI projects and process can be found at CommerceChenango.com/economic-development/downtown-revitalization-initiative.