The former downtown Key Bank location, located on the northeast corner of Second and Main Streets. (google street view)

EDITORS NOTE: This story has been updated to reflect additional comments provided by building owner Arnold Duke.

JAMESTOWN – A piece of Jamestown property that was selected to receive $1 million in state funding to help revitalize the downtown is back up for sale.

The former Key Bank building at 200 N. Main Street in Jamestown is on the market for $500,000.

According to public records, the building has been owned by The Duke of Jamestown, LLC since October 2016, when it purchased the building for $110,000. The LLC is owned and operated by developer Arnold Duke. Less than a year after the purchase, the property was named one of the recipients of the $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant program, announced by the state in May 2017. At the time of the announcement, it was announced that Duke had planned to redeveloped the building into a mixed-used building with office, retail and residential uses.

“Transform a mostly abandoned bank building in the center of downtown Jamestown into a mixed-use downtown anchor which will increase residential opportunities, bring new commercial activity, and create jobs in the downtown,” the grant award booklet stated. “The renovations will provide 10,000 feet of office space, 8 market-rate apartments, a restaurant space, 4-6 pop-up retail spaces, a wine tasting room, and an escape the room-type attraction.”

In a feature story about the project that appeared in the Jamestown Gazette in August 2018, Duke had said he projected a grand opening “in about 16 months”, which would have put the grand opening date in January 2020. But that never occurred and work on the site actually stopped prior to the start of the pandemic in March 2020.

Now the building is back on the market, with a sales price that is nearly five times higher than what Duke spent to buy it back in 2016. However, that increased cost is likely due to the amount of work and remediation – including asbestos removal – that went into the renovation effort prior to the work stoppage.

WRFA spoke with Duke Monday morning to learn more details about the sale. He explained that due to a number of setbacks – the pandemic, an ongoing divorce battle, and a serious personal health issue he’s only recently been able to recover from – he’s been left with no option but to step away from the project.

“My main business is the International Gem and Jewelry Show,” Duke said. “But because of the pandemic, we’ve not been able to hold or participate in any shows and that’s been a significant financial hit. My recent hospitalization and multiple surgeries, combined with an ongoing divorce battle, have also played a significant role in the decision to unfortunately step away from the project.”

However, he said that in addition to anyone interested in buying the property, he’s also willing to enter into a partnership if they wish to no own the building.

“I love the city of Jamestown and still want what’s best for its downtown development and I think this building can be a key component in making that happen,” Duke told WRFA.

Because the project was never officially completed, Duke won’t receive any of the state money that was earmarked for it. However, city development director Crystal Surdyk says that any new owner of the building who follows through with completing the development effort could receive that money.

“The DRI grant will stay with the building. Because Arnold Duke did not complete the project, he, nor his company, will be eligible to receive any reimbursement from the DRI,” Surdyk said in an email to WRFA. “That said, a new developer will have to work with the state to develop a project that is in alignment with the intent of the DRI and will need state approval in order to develop the building with DRI funding.”

Surdyk didn’t say if there was a deadline for when the funding must be appropriated. There have been other proposed projects that were to receive the money, only to have it reallocated to another project. That includes some of the $600,000 in funding that was given to the city for a Downtown Event Programming fund administered by the Jamestown Local Development Corporation, as well as $670,000 that was originally intended to help bring a passenger excursion train service to the city.

A requirement to spend the money sooner rather than later was the motive for reallocating the remaining money in the Downtown Event Programming fund. According to Surdyik, the city was instructed by the state to spend it elsewhere because of the pandemic and the uncertainty of when major downtown events could occur again. That funding will ultimately be redirected to help entertainment-based businesses and organizations weather the financial storm caused by COVID-19. But for the former Key Bank building, it appears the state is willing to wait until new ownership comes on board, prior to redirecting the money elsewhere.

In the meantime, anyone interested in learning more about the Key Bank Building, or a potential partnership with Duke can call Tom Turner, real estate broker with Century 21, at 763-7506.

The former downtown Key Bank location, located on the northeast corner of Second and Main Streets. (google street view)

JAMESTOWN – The Jamestown Planning Commission has given its approval to the Jamestown City Center project, which will focus on converting an historic downtown bank building into a multi-use facility that will be used for a dinner theater and banquet space, along with providing residential apartments and office space.

The commission met on Tuesday and reviewed the plans for the project at the former Key Bank building at 200-206 N. Main Street with a representative from LaBella Associates architecture along with project manager Lori Galster. The two were on hand to represent developer Arnold Duke, who owns the property after buying it at auction in 2016.

The commission was required to review the plans because the project involves an adaptive reuse of an existing building that is more than 5,000 square feet.

Architect David Misenheimer with LaBella goes over the site plans of the Jamestown City Center project with the Planning Commission on July 16, 2019.

The center will include office space, eight apartments, a dinner theater on the main floor, commercial kitchen, rental space for banquets, wine tasting lounge, and escape rooms.

The renovation of the four-story, 40,000-square-foot building is expected to cost a total $5 million. Earlier reports and quoted the project at $3.5 million.

Because the building is in the city’s historic district, the state Historic Preservation Office had to review and approve of the renovations.

In addition to private investment, the project will also use $1 million in state aid through the state Downtown Revitalization Initiative program and $500,000 through the Restore New York Communities Initiative program. The Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency also approved a $200,000 sales tax exemption for the project in 2017.

Glastner said with the planning commission’s approval the project can now go out for bid with contractors, in addition to finalizing leases with prospective clients. Portions of the renovation could be completed by the end of this year.

The former historic Bank of Jamestown building, located on the northeast corner of Second and Main Streets. (google street view)

JAMESTOWN – The Jamestown City Planning Commission will be meeting Tuesday afternoon to review plans for a new development taking place at a former bank building in downtown Jamestown.

The project is taking place at the historic Bank of Jamestown building at 200-206 North Main Street (last used as a Key Bank location).  It involves converting the four stories of the building into a multi-use space that will be known as the Jamestown City Center.

The center will include 10,000 square feet of office space, along with eight apartments, a commercial kitchen, dinner theater, adult cooking classes, clay and paint classes, rental space for banquets, wine tasting lounge, and escape rooms.

Developer Arnold Duke is overseeing the project and his team has said that if all goes according to schedule the apartments could be available for rent by the this fall. The commercial and community service space could also be ready along the same timeline.  Meanwhile the office area – which already has a tenant ready to lease the space – is expected to be completed next year.

The renovation of the four-story, 40,000-square-foot building is expected to cost a total of $3.5 million.  It has already received $1 million through the state Downtown Revitalization Initiative program and $500,000 through the Restore New York Communities Initiative program. The Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency also approved a $200,000 sales tax exemption for the project in 2017.

Tuesday’s planning commission meeting will involve the commission reviewing the site plans for the new work that will be done for the project along with other details. The planning commission is required to give its authorization for the project before permits can be granted by the city and the final phase of work can begin.

Tuesday’s meeting begins at 3:30 p.m. on the 4th floor of city hall in the mayors conference room and is open to the public.

JAMESTOWN –  Mayor Sam Teresi delivered his 2017 State of the City message to the Jamestown City Council and members of the press on Monday night. However, just like last year, the mayor decided not to read the State of the City message to the council, and instead delivered a short statement thanking the employees who work for the city before presenting council members with the State of the City document.

Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi (center) addresses the Jamestown City Council during its meeting on Jan. 30, 2017 as city attorney Marilyn Fiore Lehman (left) and Police Chief Harry Snellings (right) look on.

Much of the message provided a recap of the accomplishments of 2016 while also focusing on several initiatives for the new year. Following Monday night’s council meeting, the mayor spoke to the media and also acknowledged the challenges the city is currently facing.

“It was a difficult year filled with challenges, but I think the successes and opportunities outweighed the challenges and the setbacks that we had during the year,” The mayor said. “Overall, 2016 was a solid year, a strong year, and we have a pretty ambitious agenda ahead of us for 2017.”

Among the items on the agenda for 2017 is to continue to look toward economic development, with the help of the $10 million in Downtown Revitalization Initiative money that was awarded to the city by the state last summer.

“The time frame on that is the local planning committee will be wrapping up their proposals in the next few weeks. The consulting team will then have until March 1 to ship that off to Empire State Development, the Department of state, the Division of Homes and Community Renewal, and of course the governor’s office, to review our proposal as well as the proposals of the nine other DRI cities across the state,” Teresi said, adding that the city is also anxiously awaiting to start redevelopment of the Key Bank building at the intersection of Second and N. Main Streets. “We’re also looking forward to that $500,000 Restore New York Grant to plug in one of the redevelopment pieces into the former Key Bank redevelopment project.”

The mayor also said he wants to see the city tackle the poverty issue by working toward providing new jobs and a better educated workforce. To that end he’s hoping the current Empire State Poverty Reduction Initiative the city is involved with will help to create new education opportunities and collaborations with Jamestown Public Schools.

“Some of us feel that the best poverty reduction initiative is jobs being created, and you can’t have jobs being created in a local economy unless you have the educational infrastructure in place, and that starts with improving our graduation rate at the high school level. Creating other collegiate continuing educational opportunities for our merging workforce through JCC and JBC, and training to trade unions and other apprentice programs.

The mayor said the city will also continue to focus on tackling the drug epidemic, by working with and promoting new and enhanced outpatient services at UPMC ChautauquaWCA and other health organization.

And the city will also continue to work toward identifying efficiencies and shared service opportunities to help reduce costs. This includes a possible inter-municipal agreement with the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s office regarding a public safety consolidation effort with the Jamestown Police Department.

A complete copy of the mayor’s state of the city message can be found online at the city website www.JamestownNY.net.

WRFA will also talk more with the mayor about the State of the City message during our February interview, to be broadcast on Thursday, Feb. 9 at 5 p.m. on Community Matters.

The former downtown Key Bank location, located on the northeast corner of Second and Main Streets. (google street view)

JAMESTOWN – A former bank and downtown landmark will receive major funding from the state to help in a redevelopment project.

Late last week Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that nearly $40 million has been awarded to 75 communities from the state’s Restore New York Communities Initiative. Locally, Jamestown will receive $500,000 to help with the redevelopment of the former Key Bank Building on the northeast corner of Second and N. Main Streets.

The four-story building was purchased last July by during a closed auction by Arnold Duke of Bemus Point. The developer wants to use the building for commercial and office space.

According to the Post-Journal, the day-long meeting was intended to help prioritize local projects eligible for the money and also narrow down the list.

Part of the day focused on learning more about the projects, with the remainder of the day used to help committee members further discuss each project.

According to the paper, the list of projects the committee discussed was narrowed to 15, which was done through feedback from the first two public community meetings held in November and December.

Projects include the National Comedy Center, the former Key Bank Building redevelopment, the Hilton DoubleTree Hotel on 4^th Street, the Greater Jamestown Riverwalk, Reg Lenna Center for the Arts renovation project, the Jamestown Brewing Company development, and upgrades to the Lucille Ball Little Theater, Furniture Mart Building, and the Jackson Center.

The 15 projects have a total preliminary figure of more than $27 million.

The final public meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 16.

The former downtown Key Bank location, located on the northeast corner of Second and Main Streets. (google street view)

JAMESTOWN – There could be future development underway in the former Key Bank building in downtown Jamestown.

Earlier this year Key Bank closed down its downtown office at the northeast corner of Second and Main Streets and the property was put up for auction. The property was purchased at auction by Arnold Duke, who wants to renovate the space and use it to house a business, offices, and residential space. City Planner Bill Rice says the project could result in 25 to 30 new jobs being added to the downtown – although specific details regarding what business could move into the space were not disclosed.

On Monday Night the Jamestown City Council learned that there is state funding available to help with the renovation effort through the Restore New York grant program.

As a sponsor agency, the city could apply for up to $500,000 to assist with the redevelopment of the building, but the deadline to apply early October.

As a result the city council will have to vote on applying for the grant during its September meeting at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 26.  A public hearing on the grant request is also required, and will take Sept. 26 at 6:30 p.m. in the city council chambers.