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Clear skies. Low 63F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph..
Clear skies. Low 63F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.
The building that formerly housed Scanlon’s Auto Parts at 6 Depot St. in Potsdam. Christopher Lenney/Watertown Daily Times
The building that formerly housed Scanlon’s Auto Parts at 6 Depot St. in Potsdam, pictured Wednesday. Christopher Lenney/Watertown Daily Times
The building that formerly housed Scanlon’s Auto Parts at 6 Depot St. in Potsdam. Christopher Lenney/Watertown Daily Times
The building that formerly housed Scanlon’s Auto Parts at 6 Depot St. in Potsdam, pictured Wednesday. Christopher Lenney/Watertown Daily Times
POTSDAM — The Potsdam village board will hold a Sept. 19 public hearing on a grant application for a project the village is supporting to turn a derelict Depot Street building into high-end apartments.
Trezza Realty, owned by local businessman Larry Hazen, is proposing to fix up the apartment building at 4 Depot St. It was condemned after a fire in 2015.
He’s seeking just over $2 million for the project from the state’s Restore New York fund and will have to actually spend about $280,000. The grant program provides 90% funding with a 10% match, according to the village planning director.
“The plan, as I understand it, is Trezza Realty is proposing to renovate the existing apartments. Those would be kind of upscale housing as opposed to affordable housing,” said Frederick J. Hanss, the village’s planning director.
Part of the building is the former Scanlon’s Auto Parts, which at one point before that was an Oval Wood Dish Co. factory.
“What Trezza’s proposing to do is create a commercial space there. Mr Hazen at this point is refining his development plan for that space,” Mr. Hanss said.
The village will be the grant applicant and will sign a grantee agreement with Trezza Realty. Mr. Hanss said New York state requires the village hold a public hearing and take public comment before applying. The hearing will be Sept. 19 before the start of the 6 p.m. regular village board meeting.
Mr. Hanss said more details, including the amount of money Mr. Hazen will seek, will be released closer to the hearing.
“The board … won’t vote on it that night. They’ll take some time to digest any public comment they get and applications are due in early October,” he said.
There will be no cost to the village, he added.
“Trezza Realty has agreed to pick up any of the village’s out-of-pocket expenses,” including the cost of any required legal notices and any application fees, Mr. Hanss said.
He said the project ties in with downtown improvement projects being funded through Potsdam’s $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative award from 2019. Mr. Hanss said the 4 Depot St. project wasn’t included in the DRI because “the timing was all wrong.”
“This takes a building that’s been condemned, vacant for many years and had potential to continue to be an eyesore,” Mr. Hanss said. “It’s a pretty important downtown revitalization project.”
“It supports a lot of other projects going on in that neighborhood. It’s a really key part of downtown we want to focus on,” he said. “It would be literally right next door to the North Country Children’s Museum, to the St. Lawrence County Arts Council’s new multi-arts center … we have a number of new businesses that have gone into Market Square Mall … all these projects together support one another.”
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