The Jamestown Brewing Company has announced it will temporarily shut down until a New York state liquor license is received so operations could resume.

The restaurant – which is located at the building formerly known as the Lillian Vitanza Ney Renaissance Center at the corner of W. Third and Washington Streets – initially opened in mid July despite not having its license.

The business is owned and operated by the father-son partnership of John McClellan Sr.  and John McClellan Jr. of Buffalo. They are leasing the space from the building owner, G. Patti Enterprises, which received a portion of the $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative Grant to renovate the building.

Delays in that renovation effort has led to the McClellan’s suing G. Patti Enterprises for a breach of contract and that issue is still being played out in State Supreme Court in Erie County.

Meanwhile there is no word on when the State will finally grant to the liquor license, which is needed in order for JBC to not only serve alcoholic drinks but also begin brewing its own beer.

According to the Post-Journal, the Jamestown Planning Commission on Tuesday approved the site plan for the Jamestown Brewing Company, which will be located at 119 W. Third St in the Lillian Ney Renaissance Center.

Officials say brewing will be done in the basement, with a restaurant and bar area on the main floor. The business will also include a mezzanine and banquet area.

The state Historic Preservation Office has approved the project, which was required due to the project receiving historic tax credits to assist in funding the project.

Along with the site plan, the commission also approved the environmental assessment and historic preservation forms.

The Jamestown Brewing Company is slated to open before the grand opening of the National Comedy Center during the Lucy Comedy Fest, which starts Aug. 1.

According to the Post-Journal, the project has received both grant funding and low interest loans to help with its development. That includes:

• $830,000 in grant money through the state Downtown Revitalization Initiative;
• $475,000 state Main Street grant;
• around $200,000 in federal funding via the Community Development Block Grant program;
• $180,000 through a Jamestown Local Development Corporation loan;
• $100,000 loan from the County IDA;
• and $50,000 from the Greater Jamestown Zone Capital Corporation.

Among the items on the agenda is a site plan review for Jamestown Brewing Company – the multi-million dollar project that will be opening up in the Lillian Vitanza Ney Renaissance Center at the corner of Third and Washington Streets in Jamestown.

The Buffalo-based father and son team of Jon McLellan and Jon McLellan II, along with G. Patti Development, are in the process of renovating the building. Once complete, it will include a brewery, bar, banquet center and restaurant. If things stay on schedule, the business is slated to open around the beginning of August.

The commission also plans to review site plans for renovation work at the Robert H. Jackson Center.

Also the commission will hold a discussion on the 2018 Community Development Block Grant and Home programs, which are federally funded programs aimed at housing and redevelopment in selected areas of the city.

Tuesday’s meeting begins at 4:15 p.m. in the mayor’s conference room and is open to the public.

The Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency is considering granting the exemption to the business, but must first hold a public hearing. The hearing will take place at 10 a.m. on Friday, May 19 in the IDA offices, located at 201 W. Third St., second floor of the BWB Building.

Jamestown Brewing Company is a proposed $4.8 million microbrewery and restaurant business being developed by John McLellan Sr. and John McLellan Jr., both from the Buffalo area.  As part of the project, the Lillian V. Ney Renaissance Center building is being purchased by local developer George Patti of GPatti Brew and will be transformed into a three-floor brewery and restaurant.

Financing for the project also includes a $1 million request in state funding from the Downtown Revitalization Initiative and a $475,000 state Main Street grant that was awarded through the Regional Economic Development Council program.

More details on the project, including the costs and benefits (as presented by the applicant), can be found online at the IDA website.

The hotel project will receive a tourism payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT), mortgage recording tax, and sales tax benefits from the IDA. In addition, the IDA board also approved the project’s state environmental quality review, which is required for it to move forward.

The project still needs to clear a few more hurdles before construction can start. On Monday the Celoron Planning Board will review the plans for a hotel at the village Community Center. That meeting will begin at 7 p.m.

The Celoron Zoning Board will also consider a variance for the project on Oct. 24, since the hotel is being constructed less than 100 feet from the Chautauqua Lake shoreline.

If the project is able to break ground in November, the anticipated opening date would be in spring 2018.

The hotel, which is being built by Hart Hotels out of Buffalo, will have 132 rooms, a banquet facility, pools, a bar and cocktail lounge, and  other amenities.

In other action, the IDA approved an Al Tech loan for a brew pub in downtown Jamestown.

According to the Post-Journal, the IDA board approved a $100,000 Al Tech loan for Jamestown Brewery. Buffalo resident John McClellan Sr. is serving as the sole principal of Jamestown Brewery – which is planned to be a full-service manufacturing craft and farm brewery in the Lillian Ney Renaissance Center building on West Third Street, at the intersection with Washington Street. The total cost of the project is $5.2 million. The money from the loan will be used for renovations at the Renaissance Center.

The facility also received a $500,000 Main Street Anchor Grant, secured by Jamestown Renaissance Corporation, which was secured during the 2015 New York State Consolidated Funding Application process.

If the project goes forward as scheduled, it could open by summer or early fall of 2017.

The housing presentation will be held at 7 p.m. followed by a question and answer session with the community. The event will take place in the Lillian Vitanza Ney Renaissance Center (119-121 W. 3rd Street, Jamestown). Attendance is free and open to the public.

Guest speaker of the evening will be Jennifer Kaminsky, Director of Planning and Community Development for People United for Sustainable Housing (PUSH) Buffalo. Her presentation is intended to gain insight into PUSH Buffalo’s innovative housing programs and provide a forum for discussing the types of programs our community might look to implement.

“PUSH Buffalo is a model for how Jamestown might undertake creative projects that result in the provision of new, safe, and affordable housing and mixed-use projects for the community,” said Mark Geise, Senior Planner for JRC. “We need to learn from other successful programs, and having an organization such as PUSH Buffalo coming here to enlighten us is a real honor and an opportunity to learn from amongst the best,” said Geise.

PUSH Buffalo’s mission is to mobilize residents to create strong neighborhoods with quality affordable housing, expand local hiring opportunities, and to advance economic justice in Buffalo. PUSH Buffalo was founded by Aaron Bartley and Eric Walker in 2005 and is the community organizing entity that works with partners and funders to create a strong, healthy city.  The program organizes community control of resources, living wage jobs, and access to quality education, healthcare and transportation. PUSH Buffalo was established to:

• Create strong neighborhoods with quality affordable housing
• Decrease the rate of housing abandonment by reclaiming empty houses from neglectful public and private owners and redeveloping them for occupancy by low-income residents
• Develop neighborhood leaders capable of gaining community control over the development process and planning for the future of the neighborhood

For more information on the PUSH program or other Jamestown Renaissance Corporation news and events, please contact Mark Geise at 716-664-2477 or visit www.jamestownrenaissance.org.

The Jamestown Renaissance Corporation is a public-private partnership supporting downtown and neighborhood revitalization through stakeholder engagement, innovation, and reinvestment in the greater Jamestown, New York, area.

Holiday on the Hill is a two-day fine arts and crafts sale featuring local and regional vendors that will take place at the Lillian V. Ney Renaissance Center in downtown Jamestown Nov. 20 and Nov. 21.

According to organizers, 12 percent of all sales raised will be used to support Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA).

CASA is the voice for abused and neglected children in Chautauqua County. Caring volunteers stand by the child’s side and speak up for their best interests and give them hope for the future.

Later today on WRFA, we will be talking with CASA representatives not only about the fundraiser, but also about the services CASA provides as well as what local residents can do if they are interested in volunteering.

The interview will air at 5pm Thursday during WRFA’s Community Matters program. And encore broadcast will air at noon on Sunday.

For more information about CASA visit http://www.chautauquacasa.com/.

And for more information about the Holiday on the Hill event, visit http://casahoh.wix.com/holidayonthehill.

On Monday Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi was one of several individuals who attended a Regional Economic Development Summit in Buffalo to review grant applications for various economic development projects in the region. Also in attendance was Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Teresi tells WRFA the meeting involved prioritizing all of the proposed projects on a 20-point grading system and then passing that list on to Albany. He said the local projects that were on the list – including funding for the creation of the National Comedy Center, the renovation of the Lillian V. Ney Renaissance Center to accommodate a downtown micro-brewery and restaurant, and a feasibility study for an excursion train service – all received high grades.

However, he also said that was only the first part of the grading process, with 80 percent of the decision-making still to take place in Albany. As a result there’s no guarantee any of the projects will receive all, or even some, of the funding they have requested in their applications.

State economic development officials will review the list of projects and corresponding grades in the coming weeks and will likely announce who will receive the funding in late November or early December. A total of $709 million in funding is expected to be awarded this year across New York State.

Can downtown Jamestown support a microbrewery/restaurant? The Jamestown Renaissance Corporation thinks it can.

JAMESTOWN, NY – The Jamestown City Council has given its approval for the application of three different grants from New York State to help with downtown economic development.

In addition to approving a grant application to help pay for feasibility study for an excursion train service between Jamestown and the Buffalo-Niagara Region, the city council approved two other grant applications that will be filed on behalf of the Jamestown Renaissance Corporation (JRC). One grant will be used to help with Phase II improvements to Wintergarden Plaza on N. Main St., while the other will be used to make improvements to the Lillian V. Ney Renaissance Center on the corner of W. Third and Washington Streets, so that it would be able to accommodate a downtown microbrewery and restaurant.

JRC deputy director Peter Lombardi says the microbrewery would be a brand new business to the area.

“This would be a new business in downtown Jamestown that I think will work in sync with the opening of the National Comedy Center next year and help to provide a lot more activity in that area between the Jamestown Savings Bank Arena and the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts, that needs to become more active,” Lombardi said. “We need to have a bridge of activity between the west end of downtown and the east end to make it as positive an experience as possible for visitors.”

Lombardi said that the project could receive between $100,000 to $500,000 in funding from the state’s Main Street grant program. He added that because the planning is still in the preliminary stages, he could not provide the name of who currently is developing the micro brewery, only to say that they are not an already established business in the area.

Lombardi also said the state grant application for the Wintergarden Plaza improvements would be to cover 75 percent of the cost for the $130,000 project and would include improved seating and a canopy to provide more shade for the plaza.

A passenger excursion train, like the Delaware & Ulster Railroad service in Delaware County, NY (pictured), could be in Jamestown’s future, linking the city with Buffalo, 70 miles to the north. (Image courtesy of ScenicRailroadExcursions.com)

As for the excursion train service, it’s something that Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi first discussed publicly earlier this month, when he said the city department of development has created a task force, consisting of various community and regional stakeholders, to determine what would be needed to bring an excursion train service to Jamestown. As part of that process, it has identified a couple of consulting firms – including Stone Consulting of Warren, PA – that would be able to help create a detailed study and plan.

The mayor said the feasibility study will focus on four main areas, including the economic impact the excursion service would have o the region, as well as outline any opportunities and challenges associated with the project. It would also focus on what would be needed to renovate the abandoned engine house just to the west of the Train Station, and provide details of the business and operational plan needed for the excursion service.

All grants would be submitted through the New York State Consolidated Funding Application program, which has a deadline of July 31 in order for any proposed project to be eligible for the next round of founding from the state’s Economic Development Council.