SARANAC LAKE – The former Dew Drop Inn will have a new name, and its iconic neon sign will no longer hang over Broadway when it reopens as a new restaurant and bar.

Calli Shelton and Randy Coles will call their business 27 Broadway, the address of the downtown building the Houston, Texas, couple purchased earlier this year from Ed Dukett. Their planned riverside bar will be called Bootlegger’s at 27 Broadway.

Shelton presented the first renderings of what the building would look like at Monday’s village Board of Trustees meeting.

Renovations to the Dew Drop are one of four grant applications the board endorsed to the next round of the state’s regional economic development competition. The others include funding requests for extending the River Walk across the Dew Drop property, for an arts master plan for the village, and for marketing the village’s hosting of next year’s World Snowshoe Championships.

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Dew Drop design

The board approved a resolution supporting the Saranac Lake Local Development Corporation’s request for $500,000 in state grant money for facade renovation and related construction to the former Dew Drop Inn. The LDC is seeking “anchor project” funds through the New York Main Street Program, and it’s asked the North Country Regional Economic Development Council to pick it as a priority project.

“This project is a key element of the local vision for the revitalization of Saranac Lake’s downtown,” the resolution reads.

There were a lot of “oohs” and “ahhs” around the board table Monday when Shelton unveiled the building’s initial renderings, designed by Saranac Lake architect Rich Hanpeter.

“We’re still playing with color schemes and finishes, but this is the general plan,” she said.

“I like it,” said Mayor Clyde Rabideau. “Oh, baby.”

“It’s going to be huge,” said Trustee Paul Van Cott, who’s also chairman of the LDC. “Let’s hope New York state agrees.”

The street-level view of the 7,900-square-foot building shows a light brown facade with green and brown trim, and window boxes below its second-story windows. There would be darker brown siding around three large windows along Broadway, replacing the current brick facade, with entrances on the corner to either the 27 Broadway restaurant on the main level or downstairs to Bootlegger’s bar.

A riverside rendering shows a lower-level covered porch in front of the bar, which the River Walk would run through, and a long stretch of windows on the restaurant level. The second floor, which Shelton said would be a “luxury apartments” would have doors that lead to a riverside deck. The blueprints presented to the board also show a greenhouse on the property where produce for the restaurant would be grown.

Rabideau noted that the Dew Drop Inn’s old neon sign, which still hangs over Broadway, isn’t in the images.

“We’re going to restore it and hang it inside,” Shelton said. “You’ll see it as you walk down Broadway across the bridge. We’re hanging it in front of a big window right there.”

“So we’re not going to keep the Dew Drop name anywhere?” the mayor asked.

“We’ll keep it inside a lot,” Shelton said. “We have a lot of memorabilia. We have a lot of pieces we want to showcase. That building’s had a long and interesting history. We kind of want to take the focus off of just one business, although that was everybody’s favorite, kind of show the whole history of it through that name, 27 Broadway.”

Shelton said she’s “closing in” on a final design, then will start working on construction documents.

“Good luck,” Rabideau said. “Let’s get the River Walk through, baby.”

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River Walk

The board also backed an application for $150,000 to cover construction of the River Walk through the Dew Drop and a neighboring property. Currently, it pulls away from the river in that area, detouring through an alley before crossing Broadway and returning to the river.

Village Community Development Director Jeremy Evans said the village’s request will be part of a regional Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan grant application spearheaded by Clinton County. The grant, if it’s awarded, would carry a 50 percent match. Evans said they would use the value of the public spaces planned for the proposed Lake Flower Resort and Spa, including sidewalks on Lake Flower Avenue and a semi-public deck and boat docks on Lake Flower, to fulfill the match requirement.

Trustee Allie Pelletieri asked how the village would own or maintain the stretch of River Walk through the Dew Drop property.

“It would be through an easement that provides the right level of control and rights to the municipality,” Evans said. “How do you do that as you’re going through private property, basically going through a building? We don’t have that all figured out yet, but we know we can get there.”

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Arts plan

The village is asking the New York State Council on the Arts for $49,500 to develop an arts master plan.

“The idea is to develop a master plan of actionable strategies that will help to grow the arts in Saranac Lake,” Van Cott said. “We had a first meeting with between 20 and 30 art organizations and individual artists. Everybody is very enthusiastic about the effort.”

Rabideau asked what the money would be used for if it’s awarded.

“It pays for a consultant to lead the community through a master plan process,” Van Cott said. “The way the Council for the Arts works, they want you to do the planning before you seek funds for implementation.”

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Snowshoe event

Trustees also signed off on submission of a Market New York application to the I Love New York tourism program to support its hosting of the World Snowshoe Championships in February. The village is asking for $75,000.

“No matter what, the village and its partners will pull this event off,” Evans said. “The expertise is there, and we’ve committed to doing so, but with the support of the Market New York program, we can turn it into a signature, international caliber-level athletic event.

“What I’ve heard loud and clear from the committee is (they want) to kick-start and leverage this into establishing Saranac Lake as one of the places to go for snowshoe competitions. It would be easier if we could get support for marketing and other things from this program.”

The grant carries a 25 percent match. The village expects to exceed that requirement through race registration fees and sponsorships, estimated at $50,000.