Years after being approved by the state, the approximate $10 million injection of Downtown Revitalization Initiative Funds into Owego are starting to show results. Not all of the initially approved projects will reach the finish line however; as issues mostly associated with COVID have forced some project owners to withdraw.
“The unprecedented challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic have had a direct impact on the businesses and organizations selected for Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) grant funding. Increased supply costs, contract delays, limitations to in-person site visits, financial consequences of business closures, postponed fundraising efforts, etcetera have resulted in necessary changes made to the scope, timeline, and budgets of several projects,” said Brittany Woodburn, deputy director of the Tioga County Department of Economic Development and Planning.
Owego Mayor Mike Baratta said that while the fact that some projects will no longer go forward is unfortunate, it is not unexpected.
“I know some have been swapped around here and there,” said Baratta, adding, “It comes with the state money; sometimes it’s too many hoops to jump through and plans change. And the world in general with supply chains has changed a lot of things. Building anything right now is three times the cost.”
The state requires reallocation of funds from projects not going forward to existing DRI projects, or to projects that have been previously identified in the DRI Plan.
“Increased labor and supply costs have resulted in significant increases to most project budgets, and necessitated the reallocation of funds to ensure existing project feasibility,” said Woodburn.
As it stands two DRI projects have already been completed, the Coburn Free Library and the Main Street Rehabilitation Project.
At Coburn, work has been completed on the newly constructed 1,200-square-foot annex on the Coburn Free Library, which includes an elevator shaft and system, expanded reading room space, and handicap-accessible restrooms. The Coburn Free Library renovation was a $974,500 project receiving $300,000 in DRI investment.
The Main Street Rehabilitation project received $123,429 in DRI investment in order to complete a full renovation of the building located at 167-169 Main St. Totaling $1.2 million, part of the funding was provided through a 2018 $875,000 Restore NY grant from Empire State Development. The project has created eight new residential units and two commercial spaces, and includes extensive exterior facade renovations to a formerly blighted and vacant building.
Baratta added, “I think the final product will be good. We have made a lot of progress on some of them, work is either being done or has already been completed on a number of projects. All of them combined will make a big impact.”
Two more DRI projects are in active construction, with the Home Central kitchen and bath design showroom in the process of being completed along with the implementation of the Supporting Owego’s Creative Community Project. Along with the under construction projects, according to Woodburn, there are also two development projects getting ready to start construction along with two facade revitalization projects in similar positions.
“The remaining DRI projects are all at varying stages of pre-construction development, but we are really looking forward to many of these projects advancing to construction in the coming months so that the community is able to continue witnessing tangible evidence of the tremendous impact that the DRI program has had, and will continue to have on the revitalization of Owego’s downtown,” Woodburn added.
For a full list of DRI projects, visit www.ny.gov/downtown-revitalization-initiative/southern-tier-village-owego.
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