CANANDAIGUA, NY -- After several plans for redeveloping the vacant former Labelon building in downtown Canandaigua were OK'd and went nowhere over the years, could approval of another plan for the hulking site next to City Hall be the one?
The Canandaigua City Planning Commission on Wednesday night signed off on approvals for a plan that would result in 51 residential units on four floors at the hulking structure at 10 Chapin St.
Developer Joel Barrett, managing partner of Rochester-based 43 North Real Estate, said the property is under contract with closing next year. If everything works out, work could begin as soon as next June, with construction expected to take roughly 14 months.
Rents for the mix of studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments would range from $1,500 to $2,750, with five or six of the units set aside for workforce housing, Barrett told commissioners.
The plan also calls for a landscaped, park-like area for residents with access to Main Street, which is new from previous developers' ideas, and a rooftop deck. Previous plans had called for commercial space on the ground floor, but it is substantially reduced in this iteration, to 730 square feet.
Barrett said the project would help to address a housing shortage and a "huge, blighted building" in downtown.
As they have been with prior development proposals for the site, commissioners were supportive of this one, particularly bringing the potential of 100 residents or more in walking distance of downtown businesses and restaurants.
"It's exciting," said Planning Commission Chair Lindsay Van Deusen.
In July 2002, the Labelon company filed for bankruptcy and the Chapin Street site was closed, according to an account by former Canandaigua City Historian Lynn Paulson. The facility was auctioned off two years later, and several would-be developers have tried to make similar projects, though with more of a commercial compnent to them, work without success.
According to its website, the developer has performed over $25 million of adaptive reuse, including five projects similar to what is proposed here, Barrett said, and new construction development in and around Rochester.
The project is clearly needed, one to remove a blight within the community, City Manager John Goodwin said. But it also will provide much-needed housing within the community.
"This is a developer with a proven track record of taking buildings like this and turning them into assets," Goodwin said. "This is a very exciting project. "