CANTON — The village of Canton has agreed to purchase six parcels of land that comprise the Midtown Plaza.
The village will pay a total of $1.28 million for the properties owned by Gary M. Cohen and Vernon L. Green.
Mr. Cohen, a New York City businessman, has owned the plaza and its parking lot since 1980. The space was once occupied by the Jubilee grocery store, which has been vacant since 2000.
Mr. Green owns a separate property adjacent to Mr. Cohen’s five parcels.
“We have been working on this for years,” Mayor Michael E. Dalton said.
A resolution passed Tuesday during a special meeting of the board of trustees allows the mayor and the clerk/treasurer to negotiate with Community Bank for a loan for the purchase.
Mayor Dalton said the village has no debt and will only own the property briefly.
SUNY Canton has plans to work with developers to raze the dilapidated buildings and transform the property into a mixed-use complex that will include an entrepreneurial center run by the university, retail space and 45 one- and two-bedroom apartments.
“We are very excited about this,” Mayor Dalton said.
In January, village trustees unanimously passed a resolution approving an application to Empire State Development for funding under the Restore New York Communities Initiative on behalf of SUNY Canton.
In January, Canton Economic Development Director Leigh B. Rodriguez said the project’s budget is over $21 million.
“We are asking for $2 million, which is the maximum we can request for a village of our size, but we are also asking for $10 million as a special project,” Ms. Rodriguez said during a public hearing in January. “They award only a few special projects throughout the state, but we feel like this has a good chance. It fits the requirements. So we will be requesting a total of $12 million.”
The resolution passed Tuesday states that the plan for the area has been well established and the anchor for the project, the SUNY Canton Entrepreneurship Center, has received approximately $4 million to date.
Mayor Dalton said having control of the property makes the project more likely to qualify for grants.
“We are doing this to spur economic and community growth,” Mayor Dalton said. “It’s time that we move forward.”
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(1) comment
This is very good news.
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