Local Municipalities Receive Restore-NY Grants

Albany, N.Y.-- State Senator George H. Winner, Jr. (R-C-I, Elmira) announced today that several area municipalities, including the cities of Corning, Elmira and Ithaca, have been awarded state grant funding through the Restore-NY Communities Initiatives (Restore-NY) program.

Restore-NY, created by the state Legislature as part of the 2006-07 state budget, is designed to aid municipalities in rehabilitating or removing obsolete or rundown commercial and residential properties in order to make the sites attractive to residents and businesses searching for new investment opportunities. The three-year, $300-million initiative is administered by the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC). Grants are awarded to municipalities on a competitive basis. Under the program, $50 million was distributed in 2006-07, $100 million is being allocated in 2007-08, and $150 million will be made available in 2008-09.

"We envisioned Restore-NY as yet another building block in the restoration and revitalization of quality communities throughout the Southern Tier-Finger Lakes region and statewide," said Winner. "It’s proven a useful tool in sparking local economic development, creating local jobs and energizing community pride."

Winner announced that the following local projects are receiving grants as part of this year’s second round of funding:

> City of Corning, $750,000 for the Klugo Rehabilitation Project. Funds will be used to rehabilitate three adjoining buildings on the east side of the city’s commercial district to provide new residential and retail space;

> City of Elmira, $2.3 million for the Water Street Redevelopment Project to rehabilitate two buildings in the city’s central business district to create new retail and commercial/official space and, in the future, housing;

> City of Ithaca, $2.3 million for redevelopment of the former Ithaca Gun Factory. Funding will be used to remove lead and asbestos from within the factory, demolish the building and perform other site remediation measures to permit the construction of 33 new townhouse condominiums on the site; and

> Village of Montour Falls, $700,000 for the Montour Falls Empire Zone Revitalization Project to rehabilitate the Montour House into new housing units, as well as new commercial, office and retail space.

More information regarding the Restore-NY initiative is available online.