The Evening Sun | $2 Million Restore NY Grant Awarded To Norwich Hotel Project

NORWICH

—

On

Monday,

May

22

Restore

NY,

a

program

through

Empire

State

Development,

announced

the

City

of

Norwich

would

be

receiving

a

$2

million

grant

for

the

downtown

Norwich

boutique

hotel

project.

The

Restore

NY

program

has

a

main

purpose

of

“revitalizing

urban

and

rural

areas,

disadvantaged

communities,

and

stabilizing

neighborhoods,”

with

the

end

goal

being

that

revitalized

properties

will

increase

a

municipality’s

tax

and

resource

base,

therefore

lessening

it’s

dependence

on

state

aid

programs.

The

funding

was

secured

thanks

to

a

collaboration

between

the

City

of

Norwich,

Commerce

Chenango,

and

Principle

Design

and

Engineering,

who

will

be

doing

the

construction

and

renovation

work

on

the

hotel.

The

hotel

is

located

at

14-16

South

Broad

Street

in

downtown

Norwich.

The

total

cost

of

the

project

is

around

$8.4

million,

with

$3.36

million

in

Downtown

Revitalization

Initiative

(DRI)

funding

allocated

for

the

project,

and

now

an

additional

$2

million

from

Restore

NY.

“This

$2

million

will

be

used

for

construction

over

there,

so

right

in

line

with

the

program.

That’ll

go

a

long

way

as

far

as

helping

out

in

getting

this

project

ready

to

go,”

said

City

of

Norwich

Community

Development

Director

Erik

Scrivener.

“The

intention,

I

think,

was

with

that

amount

of

money,

it’s

going

to

be

all

new

construction

and

renovation

in

there,

in

the

interior.”

The

hotel

will

feature

approximately

45

rooms,

a

restaurant,

and

an

event

room.

Scrivener

said

contracts

with

Empire

State

Development

are

in

the

works,

but

it

could

be

a

few

months

before

they’re

completed

and

work

can

begin.

However,

he

said

the

estimated

completion

date

provided

on

the

application

was

August

2024,

and

he’s

hopeful

the

project

will

be

completed

by

the

end

of

2024.

“As

part

of

the

application

I

think

we

were

looking

at

late

2024

for

completion,

if

possible,

because

I

think

it’ll

move

pretty

quick

once

the

construction

actually

starts,”

he

said.

“But,

I

mean,

really

we’re

going

to

be

at

the

mercy

of

state

agencies

before

we

can

get

going.”

Ultimately,

he

said

the

project

will

be

a

major

investment

into

the

future

of

the

City

of

Norwich

community.

The

goal

is

the

hotel

will

attract

visitors

to

stay

overnight,

and

the

South

Broad

Street

location

will

increase

exposure

and

revenue

for

downtown

businesses.

“We

have

people

staying

downtown,

they’re

going

to

walk

to

these

businesses,

they’re

going

to

walk

to

places

to

eat,”

said

Scrivener.

“It’s

exciting

the

possibilities

we

can

build

off

of

this

and

the

other

projects.”

He

also

said

the

city

planning

commission

hopes

to

assist

more

businesses

with

Restore

NY

grants

and

similar

programs

in

the

future.

“We’re

looking

to

develop

some

processes

to

kind

of

standardize

our

reviews

in

the

city.

I

mean,

there’s

things

that

we

do,

but

we

want

to

do

more

as

far

as

planning

commission

is

concerned,”

said

Scrivener.

“This

was

a

very

good

example

of

collaboration

and

what

we

can

do

in

different

agencies.

The

city,

Commerce

Chenango,

and

then

private

businesses

working

together.

It’s

a

substantial

amount

of

money

for

this

project,

so

we’re

hoping

to

repeat

this

and

help

other

businesses

out

with

other

programs.”