SALAMANCA — A public hearing concerning the proposed Nies Block rehabilitation project is scheduled for 10 a.m. March 6 in the city courtroom at city hall.
In the general project plan from Empire State Development (ESD) acquired by The Press, the Restore NY grant of up to $450,000 to be used for a portion of the cost of rehabilitation to the vacant Nies Block Building. The structure at 63-75 Main St. would see the improvements for commercial and residential redevelopment.
The public hearing, which is required by the New York State Urban Development Corporation Act, will be held by ESD to consider the general project plan.
In order to make the city of Salamanca’s vision of revitalizing Main Street a reality, it applied for and received a $450,000 Restore NY IV award for rehabilitation of the first floor of the Nies Block building in February 2017.
According to the plan, the project would rehabilitate the vacant Nies Block Building, which “originally operated as a mixed-use commercial-residential building” but has fallen into disrepair since the original owner’s descendants sold the building in the mid-1980s.
In the recent years, the first floor was occupied by an interior design and carpet store, offices and other similar uses. There are presently no commercial tenants. The building is currently owned by Rural Revitalization Corporation (RRC), a non-profit housing agency based in Olean.
River Place Salamanca LLC would be the development company for this project, with Gary Marchiori, of Williamsville, as president. The building renovations are expected to begin in summer of 2018 with completion of the project scheduled for the following spring.
Marchiori and officials from the city and ESD toured the Nies Block in October 2017 with Stephanie Timblin, executive director of RRC.
According to the plan, work would be done to make essential improvements to the building envelope such as “pointing, caulking and cleaning of the façade to make the structure watertight,” and consistent with the secretary of the interior’s standards.
“Maintaining the integrity of the original building” is noted in each aspect of the planned project.
Water, electrical, mechanical and heating, ventilation and air conditioning changes would also be required. The windows would be repaired in place on the primary elevations to be “energy efficient and practical for tenants.”
The ground level’s 8,150-square feet of commercial space would be renovated to fit the needs of potential retail tenants — including updates to entrances, doorways, facade, interior walls and ceilings — in an effort to attract viable businesses to locate on Main Street.
The upper floor interior common areas would be brought up to code for “security, life and
safety concerns.” This would include repointing of the exterior, electrical and plumbing work and all fire detection equipment would be brought up to code. It is estimated that less than 10 percent of grant funds would be used for upper floor improvements and restoration.
The Western New York Regional Council has been made aware of this project. The plan states it is consistent with the Regional Plan to transform and promote investment in Western New York communities.
The plan states that revitalizing this “highly visible block” would help create a river-focused,
commercially usable mixed-use building that retains much of its original character. It further says the addition of commercial tenants would bring jobs and sales tax to the city and draw people into the downtown area.
Restore NY funds are critical to the success of this project, the plan noted.
According to the plan, no Benefit-Cost Analysis (BCA) is required since these projects generate long-term benefits not captured in the short-term period used for the BCA and may involve no permanent job commitments.
(Contact reporter Kellen Quigley at kquigleysp@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter, @Kellen_Quigley)
