BY PAUL MITCHELL
North Country This Week

CANTON – The $14 to $16 million project that would create a multi-use property highlighted by SUNY Canton’s Entrepreneurship Center received a financial boost Thursday with $2,641,000 in funding from an end-of-the-year federal spending bill.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand announced that the North Country will receive over $4.6 million in funding from the omnibus end-of-year spending package for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 to help bolster economic development in downtown Canton.

“The redevelopment of Midtown Plaza will be truly transformational for Canton and the entire region,” said SUNY Canton President Zvi Szafran. “We appreciate our partnership with Majority Leader Schumer and Senator Gillibrand to bring the Entrepreneurship Center and the entire live-work-play project to fruition.”

“The entrepreneurship center will help us continue to expand our unique downtown experience by providing additional commercial space and adding more housing options in our community. The college’s plans to create an entrepreneurial center will offer business development and support to help drive long-term regional economic prosperity,” stated Lenore VanderZee, Executive Director of University Relations.

The Ogdensburg Bridge and Port Authority received $2.1 million for their Childcare Center Project.

“From helping directly address childcare desserts in Ogdensburg to breathing new life into our Main Streets in downtown Canton, these projects get to the heart of issues facing the North Country today,” said Senator Schumer. “This over $4.6 million in funding means good-paying jobs, affordable housing, attracting new businesses and giving North Country families the support they need. I am proud to have secured these significant investments to build up the future of the region and I will always fight to bring home federal dollars to the North Country.”

“This is a critical investment that will help revitalize the North Country,” said Senator Gillibrand. “Today, we are committing to putting millions toward building affordable housing, supporting local businesses, strengthening the healthcare infrastructure, and helping parents afford child care. I’m proud to have fought to secure this funding and I’ll work tirelessly to make sure North Country families, workers, and businesses have what they need to thrive.”

The senators personally secured funding for these projects as congressionally directed spending requests.

This project will take an underutilized and derelict shopping center in the heart of downtown Canton and transform it into three floors of much-needed commercial and residential space, including 44 residential units and the anchor of the project, the SUNY Canton Entrepreneurship Center. This project addresses three pressing needs in the North Country, increased economic development, commercial revitalization of city’s downtown, and access to quality downtown housing.

The Village of Canton is hoping to be a recipient of Downtown Revitalization Initiative funding that will, in part, help with project costs. The project is a major component of the DRI application.

The process for this project began in 2018. The vacant plaza and parking lot, 17-21 Miner St., is owned by Garry Cohen.

SUNY Canton’s Canton College Foundation is working with developers from Saratoga Springs.

To date, the college has secured $1.35 million from Empire State Development and $111,000 from the Northern Border Regional Commission.

“This project is a wonderful opportunity for our community,” said Mayor Michael Dalton. “It would really change the tone of our village.”

“The existing dilapidated structure will be demolished and replaced by an attractive three-story, mixed-use building. The first floor will house an Entrepreneurship Center and commercial space. The second and third floors will house 45 residential units. Improvements will be made to the parking lots and grounds resulting in an attractive 3.76-acre space integrated architecturally and economically with the village’s Main Street,” the proposal reads.

The DRI application also addressed the importance for downtown Canton, spurring economic growth and boosting the tax base.

The revitalization of the plaza will create additional retail space and housing options attracting both businesses and residents to the downtown corridor.

The construction will create jobs and once complete, the Entrepreneurship Center will foster increased economic activity by creating new businesses and job opportunities.

Another key component outlined in the project focuses on housing, an issue that has caught the eyes of elected officials.

“The project addresses these needs by injecting much-needed market-rate residential units in the heart of downtown Canton. This three-story facility will contain 45 residential units ranging from one bedroom to three bedrooms. The units will be affordable to the majority of area residents, and are located in the heart of the downtown area, near employment, recreation and commercial development. They will add to the diversity of housing stock in the area, and are available to residents from all age groups,” the document reads.