Labyrinth Press Company owner Jeff James presents on expansion plans to Jamestown City Council (March 20, 2023)

Businesses seeking approval of American Rescue Plan funding gave further details on their proposed projects to Jamestown City Council members.

The three businesses, Labyrinth Press Company, Panache Salon, and Summit Wealth Management; had applied for Business Expansion and Building Acquisition (BEBA) Grant program funds.

The Jamestown Local Development Corporation board approved their requests at its February meeting but as the three requests were over the $100,000 threshold, they required City Council approval as well.

Council tabled the resolutions at its voting session in February, with council members saying they wanted more information about what the businesses planned to do.

Labyrinth Press Company has requested $114,855.

Owner Jeff James said he purchased the adjacent building, 4 East Fourth Street, in December 2021 to help expand the restaurant’s kitchen and add more seating, “Without this funding right here, I don’t see what the next step, path forward is to get the spaces to the level of a functioning kitchen down there, which is my goal. My number one goal is getting that space on the basement level to basically add 600 square feet to the kitchen space.”

James said he also has secured $100,000 in working capital from the Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency for the project as well. He said Labyrinth currently has 22 employees, with four to five more being hired after the new kitchen is constructed.

Panache Salon owner Kristie Schwab also plans to use $167,105 in funding, if approved, to renovate an adjacent business space she purchased on West Third Street to add additional services to the business, “So that’s where the idea came to add flotation. We had a plan for four tanks. We’ve reduced that to three. I’d like to put in a salt cave, similar to what you find out in Ellicottville, also a sauna and cryotherapy.”

Schwab also said that if she doesn’t receive the ARP funding that the project will not be able to move forward.

Summit Wealth Management, which purchased 1285 North Main Street, has requested $108,705 for renovations to the building including a new roof, handicapped accessible entrance, and additional parking spaces.

Partner Doug Schutte said the business’ main goal is to serve more people, which means hiring more staff, “It would be more of a higher end hire, somebody who’s licensed and capable of processing securities related business. There’s a good chance we’re going to have to go outside of the area to find that, hope not, but we’ll do what we need to fill that position. And we can see, as Kristie pointed out, without funds like this, everything, the whole schedule of doing this, slows down.”

Council member at Large and JLDC Board Member Jeff Russell encouraged council members to try to visit the businesses in person before the voting session on March 27th to see the proposed projects in person. The funding requests will be on the March 27th voting agenda.

Arthur Pearson

JAMESTOWN – The Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History says it has hired Arthur Pearson to serve as its inaugural Chief Executive Officer.

A Chicago native, Pearson has a richly varied background in the arts, conservation, museum collections and philanthropy. He spent twenty-five years with the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, most recently as its Director of Chicago Program. In this role, he worked hand in glove with a portfolio of more than two hundred nonprofit groups, with an emphasis on building their operational and financial capacities to meet mission goals.

Among Pearson’s recent accomplishments, he orchestrated a $7 million public-private funding effort to accelerate restoration of Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, one of the country’s most ambitious habitat recovery efforts. He sparked the development of a $15 million artist live-work space in Chicago’s Pullman National Monument. And he guided a multi-pronged initiative to help the entire small arts sector of Chicago increase its financial sustainably.

Additionally, he has written about a range of conservation issues and is the author of Force of Nature, an award-winning biography of George Fell, Founder of The Nature Conservancy and the Natural Areas Movement. A master stained glass craftsman, his original, nature-based designs have been featured in exhibitions at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum and in City Creatures, published by the Center for Humans and Nature.

“Arthur comes on board at a challenging time,” says Doug Schutte, Board Chair of the Institute. “But his skills, passion and experience make him the right person to be leading us now and into the future.”

Pearson plans to build on the accomplishments of Twan Leenders, who has led the Institute over the past several years. Leenders, as the Institute’s new Senior Director of Science and Conservation, will focus his expertise on expanding the Institute’s conservation research and monitoring efforts. Pearson’s goal is to balance, integrate and unify these efforts with the Institute’s commitment to art and education.

“First and foremost,” Pearson says, “Roger Tory Peterson was an artist. He channeled his passion for nature into his art. And through his art, he lifted a veil, helping millions of people across the globe to see the natural world around them as never before. That was his genius, his legacy. That is our charge today – to nurture the next generation of artists-educators-conservationists.”