Town presents possible DRI projects
PLATTSBURGH — The Town of Plattsburgh has big plans for the $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant if the state awards it to them in 2025.
A sports complex, daycare facility and developments at the Champlain Centre Mall are just a few of the $120 million worth of projects being proposed in the town's DRI grant application on Oct. 18.
In a presentation to intrigued community members Tuesday night, town officials unveiled a total of 11 public and private projects that would utilize the DRI to enhance the town's downtown area or rebranded "town center," which covers a stretch of Tom Miller Road, Plaza Boulevard, Smithfield Boulevard and the Route 3 corridor.
Town planner Trevor Cole, who helped organize and plan out the DRI application with Senior Planner Jess Kogut, said the public portion of the projects include improvements to sidewalk connectivity, May Currier Park, streetscapes and placemaking and additions to public art installations for an estimated cost of $2.7 million.
"We want to get people off the streets and on sidewalks or bike lanes," Cole said about the town's priorities.
"We have more pedestrians and cyclists than ever before in uptown. People visiting from the city, going that way, we need to make a way for them to move, especially since we became a pro-housing community and we want more housing in the town center. We can't promote more housing if we don't have that pedestrian (piece)."
All of the projects are concepts at this stage.
If the town is awarded the funds, it will have to work with the state to create a more concrete plan for which projects move forward and which ones do not, Cole said.
If the town does not win the DRI, as was the case in 2021, Cole said some of these projects might move forward anyway and continue to seek out other means of funding.
And while the public pieces included in the DRI application are important, Cole said the town's private projects are the "real champions of this story."
"Folks, who are in this crowd, who have stepped forward and said ... 'we have a great idea that aligns with your vision and the state's vision.'"
The Champlain Centre Mall project proposal, the largest of all the plans, includes a possible hotel development, recreational area, dog park, library areas, multi-use family area with a playground and picnic tables, enhancements to each mall entrance and establishment of bicycle and pedestrian friendly sidewalks on the inner and outer perimeter of the building, all of which would be done in phases.
"A really kind of a transformational concept for Champlain Centre ... making it a centerpiece of town and much more human scale and inviting," Cole said.
"Really revitalizing that space and making it much more multi-use and engaging for families, which is excellent."
The plans come in at $100 million and a portion of the DRI, if it's awarded, would look to jumpstart development at the mall, which recently underwent a change and is now managed by Pacific Retail Capital Partners.
"They put forward a really robust plan," Cole said.
"They've really been great to work with the new owners and management. They are thinking really forward ways that really dovetail with how the town's thinking and so that's a really enjoyable partnership."
Adirondack Coast Sports, owned and run by local resident Steve Peters, has proposed the development of a much needed indoor and outdoor sports and recreation facility for the town under Elevate 518, LLC.
If built, the complex would be 40,000 square feet, located off of Plaza Boulevard and cost an estimated $7 million.
"It could host indoor events like craft sales, home shows, we really don't have that type of flex event space in town center. That would be incredible," Cole said.
"As somebody who is driving my kids all over the world to play sports, it'd be cool to be able to drive to Plaza Boulevard to do that."
Cole clarified that the complex would not have ice but instead have turf for soccer.
With last year's demolition of the Crete Memorial Civic Center at the Plattsburgh City Beach, Peters has been on the lookout for a permanent home for his sports programming, of which 1,200 kids currently utilize.
"Steve has done a lot of research and has a lot of data about programming throughout the North Country, and has been doing it for many years. So this is very, in my mind, feasible, needed, and the structure is already there because people are already using this (programming)," Cole said.
"These things are needed, utilized ... but need a home, and not only for the sports events, but also as flex space."
Similar to a sports facility, there's a high demand for more daycare locally.
Tiny Leaders Children's Center, a 10,000-square-foot facility on Tom Miller Road, would look to fill that need by providing enough capacity for 154 children.
"The two things that you'll hear over and over and over in most of our presentations are housing and child care, housing and child care, housing and child care, those two things are what make your economic growth possible," Cole said.
"All the jobs that are supported by those two things."
The price tag for the facility is expected to be $4 million.
The familiar and currently shuttered Comfort Inn's Bootleggers fun park off Route 3 in Plattsburgh's Consumer Square may be brought back to life through the DRI funds as well.
After Comfort Inn suffered a fire in 2008, Bootleggers, which had a mini golf course, batting cages and bumper boats, was closed down by owner Terry Meron and has not been operational ever since.
"Terry Meron has always been a champion of doing creative things in our area," Cole said.
"That place has remained a difficult piece to rehabilitate, and he stepped forward with a willingness to do that. He has already put some work in, which is really amazing, because he's reclaimed part of it already, but that would be a great space for families to recreate."
Meron is hoping to restore the miniature golf course, the stone citadel fort, historical information plaques, putting greens, existing trolley car as a cashier's station and refreshment stand, batting cage and bump boat facilities including structural, equipment and safety upgrades.
Additionally, construction of a new replica USS Spitfire Battleship is also planned.
The estimated cost to renovate and rehabilitate the old fun park is $1 million.
Stoneworks Massage and Skincare, which relocated to Tom Miller Road in 2022 when the former facility on Route 9 suffered a fire, hopes to use the DRI funds to construct an expansion for $800,000.
The expansion would allow business owners Chad Hunkins and Rebecca Albright to expand their current facility and offer more services to customers.
"They want to make it more beautiful and offer more services that people want, there's not a lot of this around, and to be able to operate right in the Town Center ... with a cold plunge, sauna, and being able to use the spa area for the day. Really cool ideas and elevates Plattsburgh to have amenities that people are looking for."
At 2,300-square-feet, Cole said the proposal looks modest but would be a nice benefit to the area.
A mixed-use development at 4 Melody Lane off of Tom Miller Road, put forth by local Tom Latinville under 15 Champlain LLC, would add 24 apartments for those 55 and older to an area in desperate need of more market-rate housing.
The site would also have related amenities available and could offer a commercial component, Cole said.
"People often give a lot of attention to the multifamily housing that's built, or if it's affordable housing, but they don't realize how much market-rate housing we need," he said.
"There's also seniors who just want quality housing and they're downsizing ... so very essential."
The plan would cost an estimated $3.5 million.
'WORK THE PLAN'
With the projects now in place, the town's application is nearly ready to send into the state to meet the October deadline.
Town Supervisor Michael Cashman said they are having conversations with other people to see if those materialize but the projects presented Tuesday are what will likely be in the application.
Cashman said he remains hopeful that the town's work, including creating a development guide, a 14-page guidebook that is sent to developers and businesses all over the country in hopes of influencing them to come here, becoming a pro-housing community, relaunching the town website and adopting a new town brand in recent years, will increase their chances to receive the funding and build on what they're done so far.
"What we want to provide is more opportunities for investments to come into the town, into the region," he said.
"You look around at what's being proposed here, you have a number of local folks that are looking to grow and expand their enterprises from child care to housing to new amenities and services — that's really exciting. and for us to build out the best town, we have to plan the work and work the plan so that we can actually build it when it's time, and now is our time."
