The Town of Southport has received a grant to fund demolition of a long-vacant former restaurant building, clearing the way for redevelopment at the site.
Town board members voted Sept. 28 to authorize an application for up to $500,000 to the Restore New York Communities Initiative program. The grant award was announced as part of Gov. Cuomo’s 2018 budget.
Southport Town Supervisor David Sheen said, “The Town of Southport is pleased to receive the ‘Restore New York Grant’ in the amount of $500,000.00. This came through the hard work of the Town’s Community Development Specialist Nichola Ostrander and all of the Town’s Departments. The process of finding a developer will begin with the Town soliciting Requests for Proposals (RFP’s) to redevelop the old Dixie Barbeque site and adjoining properties into part of the Town Center,” Sheen said.
“The project is to generate growth, create jobs and offer more commercial opportunities to our Southport residents. We look forward to working with the State in bringing this grant project to completion.”
Chemung County Legislator Rodney J. Strange congratulated the Town for being awarded this grant. “This is a great opportunity for the Town of Southport and proves that hard work and tremendous effort does pay off,” Strange said. “Receiving a ‘Restore New York’ grant is a huge accomplishment that only 75 out of hundreds of municipalities in New York state are able to claim. I am excited and look forward to seeing the results of this grant take shape here in the Town of Southport.” Strange’s 15th legislative district borders the project site.
The funding will be used toward demolition of the former Dixie Barbeque building at 1156 Broadway, as well as three adjoining located on Broadway and Sebring Avenue.
The parcels, including two homes and a vacant lot, are all owned by Albert and Dolores Wheeler, according to Chemung County property records. However, they have been for sale for at least 15 years, notes a May 2015 economic development strategy report compiled on the town’s behalf.
According to a resolution passed Aug. 9 by the town board to move forward with the application, the restaurant building “is outmoded and unsafe due to not having been properly maintained by its current or former owner,” and the property “would be a potentially prime site for commercial development if the aforementioned building was no longer on the property.”
Demolition would make the 0.88-acre property, which sits at the busy intersection of Broadway and Pennsylvania Avenue, more attractive to potential developers, officials said.
At one time, the site was “one of the best-known gathering points in the town,” Town Supervisor David Sheen said in a news release.
Officials intend to seek a private developer to “work with these funds to make this a destination site in the center of town,” Sheen said.
The Restore New York grant program provides up to $500,000 in funding for the demolition, deconstruction, rehabilitation or reconstruction of vacant, abandoned, surplus or condemned properties.