Architect Chris Cooke presents on Prendergast Landing Project to Jamestown Planning Commission (May 16, 2023)

The Jamestown Planning Commission received an update on the Shawbucks and Prendergast Landing projects at their monthly meeting.

Project Architect Chris Cooke presented on the Prendergast Landing project which is located at the corner of Fairmount Avenue and West Eighth Street. The property was formerly owned by The Resource Center before being purchased in November 2021 by Rahsaan Graham under Jade Empire LLC.

Cooke said the first floor will be retail and mixed use space, “..with a cafe in the back corner. This office level here on the second floor will be a WeWork kind of model, which is small offices for start-up businesses. The third floor will be three apartments there used for a mix of short-term and long-term rentals.”

Cooke said an elevator and ramp entry will be added to the back of the building for accessibility. He said Jade Empire is the developer of the project and that they have already worked with the New York State Historic Preservation Office to find information on the building which was built in the 1880s.

Shawbucks owner Kurt Johnson provided an update on his project to renovate the existing restaurant and bar.

Johnson said he was approved to purchase a 25-foot sidewalk owned by the city in August 2021 so that he could build a three-story balcony on the West Second Street side of the building, “Phase one is moving the bathrooms to the back of the building so that the front of the building is visible. We’ll be leaving eight feet of sidewalk on the front and the sides of the building, which is more space between the buildings than the ones around us. So, right now we’ve started relocating the bathrooms into the back of the building. We’ve got our permit, our first inspection.”

Johnson also plans to build an elevator to increase access to all floors of the building. He said the second floor will include event space, restrooms, and a second kitchen. Johnson added that a future phase of the project would be to turn the rooftop into a green space.

Both projects will likely come back before the Planning Commission in June for site plan approval.

The fundraiser, Ronnie’s Way 5k, is in honor of Ron Graham who has been diagnosed with stage-four gastroesophageal cancer and has recently started treatment.

Musician and music teacher Mark Alpaugh describes Ron as a “galvanizing force,” especially when it came to the creation of the Infinity Arts Program at Washington Middle School, “Ron is one these people that they say, ‘Ron’s never met a stranger.’ You know, he seems to know everybody and is connected. So he would set up these meetings with my department head and with my principal at school to see if this was all legit, that we could do this in fact under the umbrella of the Jamestown Public Schools, and would that be okay to do after hours.”

Alpaugh said Ron Graham then was able to find a space in downtown Jamestown on East Third Street for the Infinity program, and it grew from there.

He said one of Ron’s biggest legacies with the Infinity program is that he was able to cross borders, “He was able to find kids from different schools, from different age groups, and from different ethnicities, genders, the whole thing, and bring them all together under one umbrella, which is music.”

Musician and teacher Steve Davis credited Ron with facilitating his and other’s growth as musicians, “Introducing me to so many of the upper echelon musicians in the area and bringing other professional musicians, international touring musicians.. he brought them to Jamestown to work with us and took our level of musicianship, took it through the roof. And just the experiences and opportunities we would have never have experienced without him.”

The event Saturday at Jackson-Taylor Park will start at 10:00 a.m. with a 5K run, followed by a Hot Shots Basketball tournament as well as a community walk at 11:00 a.m.

Live music is part of the day, too, with Steve Davis and Friends starting at 10:30 a.m., “Jeremy Bunce will be playing guitar. Daniel Witherspoon will be playing some drums. Rahsaan Graham, Ron’s son, will be playing some percussion. Marla Harris will be coming down to sing some songs.”

The link to register for the “Ronnie’s Way” event is available here: https://runsignup.com/Race/NY/Jamestown/Ronnie

WRFA Public Affairs Director Jason Sample talks with Jamestown native Rahsaan Graham, who currently serves as Senior Director of Child Protection at World Vision USA. Rahsaan stopped by the studio to provide details about his important work with the organization, and also to provide information on an upcoming local fundraising event scheduled for September in Jamestown.