https://buffalonews.com/2018/08/02/l...r-15m-project/
The pending sale of 4.4 acres in downtown Lancaster for a proposed $15 million mixed-use development could end the village's 40-year quest to jump-start its central business district.
The mix of boutiques, restaurants and up to 48 midrange to upscale apartments proposed for West Main Street by businessman Tommy R. Sweeney comes after years of efforts by village leaders to attract a project that would increase downtown business and population while staying true to the village's historic character.
The village's Community Development Corp. plans to close on the $925,000 land sale by month's end after unanimously approving it and Sweeney's development plan during a special meeting in April, said James Allein, corporation president.
The parcel includes the Save-A-Lot store, an adjacent former BOCES building and a parking lot bounded by West Main, North Aurora Street and Pleasant Avenue.
The CDC, founded in 1996 to develop the parcel, received other proposals for the land in recent years, including a $30 million development plan from Stampede Capital Partners and an $845,000 offer for the land from attorney Mark S. Aquino.
"All I have known is a huge parking lot downtown. It killed business," said Lynne T. Ruda, 30, the village trustee who is chairwoman of the board's economic development committee.
The parking lot sprawls for nearly four acres and served a Harvest the Best superstore that was open one year before it went out of business in 1971.
"The store was seen as the way of the future," said Ruda. "It was the precursor to a strip mall. Now we are very cautious in how we are planning. We know this is a once in a lifetime opportunity.
"The last thing we want to see is another urban renewal project," Ruda said.
Sweeney, a Town of Lancaster resident since 2004, seized the moment, said village officials, who noted the developer's portfolio of 140 suburban apartments. Sweeney, a member of the village Historic Preservation Commission, has already renovated two historic buildings on West Main, said Mayor William Schroeder.
"I don’t know that [Sweeney's proposal] is a whole lot different, but there is more detail," said Schroeder. "The village is more comfortable with it because we know a lot more about what the project is all about. This is a sensitive issue, something people have been waiting for for the last 40 years."
An economic feasibility study funded in part by a $40,000 Empire State Development grant was commissioned in May 2017 to recommend options for West Main. LaBella Associates, an engineering firm, was chosen to prepare the study. The LaBella report, along with a number of public meetings to gauge public opinion on downtown development in the 11,000-resident village, helped guide the West End project, said Ruda.
The property will be purchased by Plum Bottom Creek LLC., and operated by Glassco Management, Sweeney said.
Sweeney's proposal could not have come at a better time, said Allein.
"[The CDC] was basically broke," said Allein, noting it owed money on the parcel. "We were behind $845,000 in mortgage payments. Last fall, the bank started foreclosure."
"[Sweeney] is very conscious of what the community wants – green space and walkability – and he's keeping in mind the village's Historic Preservation District it is on and its restrictions."
Sweeney's project includes the construction of 12 to 15 three-story buildings with brick façades, each measuring 5,000 to 6,000 square feet, he said. Commercial and service-industry enterprises are planned for the ground floors with apartments on the second and third floors, said Sweeney. Each apartment will range from 800 to 1,200 square feet with rents expected to range from $1,000 to $1,200.
Sweeney's two restored properties on West Main include former village landmark, Carson's Jewelers, at 4 W. Main, a building dating back to 1895. The $250,000 renovation called for a complete overhaul but preserving interior brick and windows on the basement level, Sweeney noted. The building now holds the Gilded Maple, a boutique that sells eclectic home décor. A two-bedroom apartment is located on the second and third floors.
Sweeney donated 10 boxes of artifacts and Carson's original typewriter and desk to the Lancaster Historical Museum.
Sweeney's renovation of the Carson's Jewelers building has other Lancaster merchants optimistic about his proposal for the West Main parcel.
Alan R. Kurtzman has been owner and manager of the New York Store, an apparel store on Central Avenue, for nearly five decades. He likes what he sees in Sweeney.
He's a "straightforward guy," said Kurtzman, noting the rehab of the former jewelry store building. "The building was in tough shape and now it is beautiful, and it took him eight or nine months. Over the years I've grown cautious, but this [West Main] proposal is a winner," he said. "It's not only the people involved but the plans they have."
"The last piece of the puzzle is the vacant land to redevelop," said Sweeney. "Ultimately we'll need a road built for the community."
Sweeney has agreed to sell part of the West Main parcel to Richard E. Young, a fourth-generation village resident who operates Performance Advantage Co., an industrial manufacturer located on Central Avenue. Young, 88, wants to build on it a Lancaster museum, restaurant and offices for the village Chamber of Commerce and Industrial Development Agency. A public park bordering the creek is also part of Young's proposal, which he calls Cayuga Landing.
Young, Sweeney and the village will be seeking grants for the construction of two roundabouts – one at Central and Pleasant Avenue, and the other at Pleasant and North Aurora Street – and a new road connecting the development to West Main Street.
Work is expected to begin in April 2019 on the south end of the development, said Ruda.
"That is the reason I ran for office, to develop that property," said Ruda, who began her first term in April 201 7. "We're starting to see the type of business that will draw residents and more businesses to the village. It feels like a renaissance."
Jane Kwiatkowski Radlich – Jane Kwiatkowski Radlich is a staff reporter at The Buffalo News. A print journalism graduate of SUNY Buffalo State, she is also a licensed attorney.
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https://buffalonews.com/2018/08/02/l...r-15m-project/
