Oswego Mayor Billy Barlow announced that 20 local businesses will be receiving a portion of $545,000 as part of one of the 12 projects of the Downtown Revitalization Initiative to rejuvenate downtown Oswego.
The Downtown Improvement Fund was created with the purpose of helping smaller businesses with improvement projects or expansions in contrast to the larger multi-million-dollar new developments, according to Barlow.
“We established a scorecard with criteria like private investment leverage, addition of residential housing, number of expected jobs created and location in downtown, and I appointed a scoring committee to judge the applicants,” Barlow said. “We had 41 businesses apply, and I hosted two engagement sessions to lay out our expectations.”
Out of the 20 businesses accepted, the owners of the Red Sun Fire Roasting Company and Adirondack Therapy will be granted the most – $80,000 each. The smallest amount will be given to Port City Copy Center for $1,145. The owners of the Red Sun Fire Roasting Company will be using the funds to go toward constructing apartments above their restaurant.
“These projects will introduce residential housing to the downtown area by taking the upper-story vacant space that exists now, and converting it [to] downtown residential living,” Barlow said. “[The owners of the Red Sun Fire Roasting Company] received the most because they asked for the most, but obviously, their projects are the largest projects, including the most construction and renovation work.”
Laurie and Will O’Brien are the owners of the Red Sun Fire Roasting Company and Port City Cafe and Bakery. They applied for the Downtown Improvement Fund and plan to use the $80,000 they were granted to build apartments above their businesses on the first floor.
“We have yet to even have architectural drawings done, so it’s typically a fairly long process,” Laurie O’Brien said. “We haven’t had much feedback yet from the mayor’s office nor from the state about the type of things that need to be done…We are still kind of sorting through what their expectations are before we get started.”
Maida’s Floral Shop will be receiving $3,500 for a new updated sign to be placed outside the building. Deb Sherwood works at Maida’s Floral Shop, which is owned by Debra McKinstry. She said the shop was able to garner more points toward qualification of receiving the grant because of its location on First Street downtown.
“I think it’ll give the shop a fresh look,” Sherwood said. “We’ve had our sign for about six years, and things change as far as style in the world of signage and graphics. It will give us an edge on maybe catering to a younger generation.”
According to Barlow, all 12 projects are all in progress. The waterpark has leveled the building that existed on site now and has broken ground. The Flexo Wire development will have a groundbreaking next month, as they just closed on the property. The Children’s Museum is currently closed to conduct the renovations funded through the DRI.
“I believe the first completed project, besides the Cahill building, will be our Market Street pocket park, a mini-park for people to hang out, do homework, grab a cup of coffee, listen to some music downtown between the Ferris Wheel and Coffee Connection buildings,” Barlow said. “This space is being geared towards accommodating the student community to give them a nice space to hang out downtown.”
The Market Street pocket park project will begin construction next month and open in the spring. The Midtown Plaza development will begin demolition next month, and both the Global Buffet and West First Street development projects are going to close by the end of the year. The Cahill building is just about complete and due to open on Nov. 1.
“The kids want to shop downtown and live downtown. That’s really what the initiative was all about, making downtown attractive to people and them wanting to live down here,” Sherwood said. “It’s a wonderful thing for downtown, a wonderful thing for Oswego.”
Photo by Maria Pericozzi | The Oswegonian
