By Elliot Brandt
JAMESTOWN — Two efforts to remake Jamestown’s old industrial core are converging this fall. One is a federal grant to find and clean up contamination along the Chadakoin River. The other is a state competition in which local developers are asking for millions to rebuild downtown.
On Tuesday, sponsors of the projects seeking money through the city’s second round of the state Downtown Revitalization Initiative, known locally as DRI 2.0, are scheduled to present them at a public workshop. The Post-Journal reported that the session runs from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Robert H. Jackson Center, 305 E. Fourth St. Residents can also comment through a feedback form at JamestownDRI.com.
Days earlier, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency held a press event to highlight a $1 million Brownfields Multipurpose Grant awarded to the city for the river corridor, according to an Oct. 22 EPA release.
What the brownfields money covers
The EPA said the grant targets former furniture factories and other legacy industrial land. That includes sites that once housed textile mills, chemical companies, metalworking shops, lumber yards and heavy manufacturing.
The city’s priority sites are the 2.3-acre former Crawford Furniture Facility, two former heavy industrial complexes and a 2-acre lumber and manufacturing site, the agency said.
The money will pay for up to six Phase I assessments, which review historical records and past sampling, and up to six Phase II assessments, which involve more intrusive testing. It also covers cleanup and reuse planning, community engagement, and the cleanup of at least one priority site.
“The City of Jamestown’s Brownfields project represents an important opportunity to address the environmental legacy of former industrial properties while building a stronger future for the community,” EPA Region 2 Administrator Michael Martucci said in the release. “Through assessment, cleanup, planning, and meaningful community engagement, this partnership can help return underused properties to productive reuse.”
Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-NY-23, whose district includes Jamestown, took part in the event. In the release, he tied the grant to the city’s “Core to Shore” plan, which aims to link downtown to the riverfront.
“For too long, these vacant industrial properties have served as painful reminders of what was lost when factories closed and jobs moved overseas, but now we have an opportunity to turn the page and help drive Jamestown’s comeback,” Mr. Langworthy said.
Spectrum News also reported on the award.
The release does not name the two heavy industrial complexes or the lumber site, and it does not say which property is likely to be cleaned up first. The assessments are meant to define how much contamination is there and what cleanup would require.
A $36 million wish list for a $10 million pot
The DRI round is the downtown half of the picture. When the city’s local planning committee got its first look at the requests earlier this month, it saw 24 proposals seeking $36,445,000, tied to more than $155 million in total project costs, the Post-Journal’s Christopher Blakeslee reported. The paper has reported that sponsors are competing for nearly $10 million.
“The funding project types included 17 redevelopment/ renovations of buildings; five public improvement projects; two branding and marketing projects; and 13 small funding interest forms,” Robert Gibson, a senior vice president at WSP, the state’s lead consultant, told the committee, according to the paper.
The largest private project on the list is Kearney Development’s plan for the former Furniture Mart at 112 W. Second St. The company is asking for $2 million toward a $105 million project with 144 apartments, the Post-Journal reported.
Other requests the paper listed:
- El Greco Woodworking: $2.5 million for a $6.7 million project at 116 E. First St. with eight to 12 apartments.
- The city: $1.25 million for the Fenton History Center roof and $300,000 for “Core to Shore” branding.
- The YMCA: $700,000 of a $763,000 project.
- Chautauqua Area Development: $500,000 toward work on the lower floor of the Field and Wright Building.
- The National Comedy Center: $500,000 to help preserve the Lucy-Desi Museum.
- Smaller requests from the Gebbie Foundation, Creator Collective and Claywin Properties, the last for the Westgate Building.
Mayor Kim Ecklund welcomed the response but cautioned that the list was preliminary. “I am excited to see the interest and to move forward through the process,” she said, according to the Post-Journal. “However, it was just a first look at the project list as well.”
How the two efforts fit
The two programs run on different clocks. The brownfields work begins with studies of what is in the ground. The DRI committee must narrow its list and send a slate to Albany, and the paper reported that the state is expected to announce awards in mid-2027.
Both are being pitched under the same banner. The city’s own DRI request includes branding for Core to Shore, the same vision Mr. Langworthy cited at the EPA event.
Questions remain that Tuesday’s workshop may not answer: which riverfront parcels will be tested first, whether any DRI projects sit on land that will need cleanup, and how a committee choosing among $36 million in requests will cut them to fit a $10 million award.
The Chronicle has asked the EPA’s Region 2 press office which sites will be assessed first and when work is expected to begin.
Photo: The Chadakoin River and the Samuel Carlson Generating Station in Jamestown. G. Edward Johnson / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.
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