The slate of projects announced included grants to rehabilitate the former Oval Wood Dish factory, the former Plaza Hotel, the State Theater, a mini-golf course, the new Tupper Lake Brewing Company, Amado restaurant, a building at 70 Park St. and streetscape enhancements throughout the village Uptown district.

According to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office, the state is investing a total of $9.7 million into these 10 projects through the DRI, with an estimated $55 million in additional public and private sector investments bolstering the rest of project costs.

State Secretary Robert Rodriguez was in town to make the announcement at the Tupper Arts Center. The Department of State manages the DRI program.

Gov. Kathy Hochul was expected to be at the announcement on Wednesday, but Maroun said she couldn’t be because “safety reasons prevail.” She was in Whitehall on Wednesday to announce a power line project.

Tupper Lake Village Mayor Paul Maroun shakes hands with Secretary of State Robert Rodriguez after Rodriguez announced the 10 projects the state is funding through the $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant program on Wednesday. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

“But I’m confident that she will be up here this summer,” Maroun said.

Rodriguez said there was a lot of effort to “whittle down” the 17 projects into the “hot 10,” and that while the North Country Regional Economic Development Council made the final decision on what got funding, the community essentially told the state where the money should go.

The Tupper Lake DRI Local Planning Committee gave the state 17 projects to potentially fund through the $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative, and the state chose 10 of them to receive funding.

Tupper Lake village Community Development Director Melissa McManus said after putting in so much work to get the DRI grant, seeing the approved projects being announced made it all feel “real.”

“It brought tears to my eyes,” she said.

Secretary of State Robert Rodriguez announces the 10 Tupper Lake projects the state is funding through the $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant program on Wednesday. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

Now, state agencies take over overseeing the projects — Empire State Development, Department of State, Homes and Community Renewal — as developers spend money on contractors and construction. They pay for the work and then get reimbursed for their costs from the DRI afterwards.

Village Mayor Paul Maroun gave shoutouts to McManus and village Clerk Mary Casagrain. He said without them and the hours of paperwork they put in, this would never have happened. McManus said the day was a “tribute” to decades of hard work in Tupper Lake.

From the podium, Maroun tried to get Rodriguez to buy a home in Tupper Lake.

“Tupper Lake is one of those amazing places that we know, with just a little bit of investment, will continue to blossom,” Rodriguez said. “(Lake) Placid is great and we’re going to really see them thrive in the university games in January, but we also know there are smaller communities around it that are just as wonderful, if given the opportunity to shine.”

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Housing focus

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More than half of the DRI funding announced Wednesday is going to projects involving the creation of new housing units in the village.

“The housing crisis is real,” Rodriguez said.

“As I’ve traveled the state there is almost no community that doesn’t have a housing need,” he added later.

The developers of the former Oval Wood Dish Factory complex at 100 Demars Boulevard are getting a total of $4.45 million to redevelop the abandoned woodworking factory into a complex for affordable workforce housing, co-work space and new production facility for Raquette River Brewing. This is split into two projects as the plans have grown in the past year.

The Oval Wood Dish Site, the main location, got $1.95 million toward a $35 million estimated total project cost, 5% of the total cost. There are 80 affordable workforce housing units planned at this site, according to developer Joe Gehm, as well as a co-working space and a new production facility for Raquette River Brewery.

The Oval Lofts, a 70-unit “market-rate” apartment complex with ground floor commercial space planned on land behind the OWD factory, currently used by Fletcher and Son Recycling and Energy, will net $2.5 million of its original $3.5 million ask. In Gehm’s application, he estimated the total project cost at $20 million and that $3.5 million would be 17% of that cost.

These apartments would come with parking, a fitness center, community space, garden and grills for residents.

Maroun said these condo-style apartments provide an option for aging people to move to a place where their yardwork is taken care of, which he said would open other homes up for sale to new families in Tupper Lake.

Gehm said groundbreaking is still a ways off. He’s working on securing more funding and affordable housing tax credits from the state Office of Homes and Community Renewal. If the project gets approved this spring, he said the Fletcher and Son property redevelopment will start first, but he hopes the two can run in “parallel.”

Gehm estimated that both could be completed by end of 2024.

The Northern Forest Center got the full $725,000 contribution it had requested toward an estimated $2.6 million project to renovate properties at 167, 179 and 185 Park St. — including the former Plaza Hotel — into “middle-market housing” apartments with unit sizes ranging from one- to three-bedrooms. This state funding makes up 27% of the total estimated project cost.

Village Trustee Ron LaScala said in July these properties were owned by his wife Amanda and her family. He had been renovating them over the past couple years and had planed to turn the Plaza Hotel into a series of vacation rentals. But they wanted the building to benefit the community instead. The NFC bought the properties.

NFC Adirondack Program Manager Leslie Karasin said NFC plans nine units in total — eight at the Plaza and one in the LaScalas’ home.

Maroun said these housing projects will help the major industries and employers around Tupper Lake — the state Office for People With Developmental Disabilities Sunmount facility, local state and federal prisons, the school district and the Wild Center.

He said that currently, employees at some of these places are double-bunking with roommates and traveling long distances to work here.

Rachel King and Brandon Cooke got $110,000 to renovate the two-story building at 70 Park St. with a short-term vacation rental on the second floor and retail space for both of their jewelry businesses — Earth Girl Designs and Gahwista-Lagah Artistry — on the first floor. This is a 35% contribution toward a $310,000 estimated total project cost.

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The arts

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The building the DRI announcement was made in, the Tupper Arts Center, may be getting quite a bit bigger — the state will contribute $693,000 to connect the center to the State Theater next door on Park Street.

The sale of the building has not happened yet. Tupper Arts board President Susan Delehanty said they were waiting on the DRI announcement to go forward with the sale. Now that they have the grant, they can set to work with longtime theater owner and operator Sally Strasser.

“We’re gonna be in the cinema business,” Tupper Arts member Ed Donnelly said.

McManus said she was glad the organization could secure the historic theater as Strasser retires, to preserve its legacy. Delehanty said she was worried if someone else bought the building they would not run it as a cinema. The theater will continue to show movies.

The grant money will be used to upgrade both the stage and screen in the theater to allow it to also be a live performance space, renewing the face of the theater — including its marquee — and to make some other upgrades to the roof and insulation.

This grant represents a 78% contribution toward a $893,000 estimated total project cost. Delehanty said the building is set to be sold for $200,000 with all the projection equipment inside.

Tupper Arts is also running a capital campaign to fund the project.

Tupper Arts Board member Andrew Chary said he sketched designs for the theater in a day-and-a-half right before the deadline, but he’s used to working under pressure.

He said he started with grand designs, but eventually had to be “brought back to Earth.” His designs draw from the original design of the front of the building, which is now nearly unrecognizable from the opera hall built in 1913.

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Food and drink … and mini-golf

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Cory and Lilian Rohrbach, who own Amado — a restaurant on the corner of Cliff Avenue and Lake Street — got $280,000 to expand the eatery into the Amado Gastronomy Experience. This represents a 40% contribution toward an estimated $700,000 project to update the facade, walkways and landscaping of the restaurant, inside and out, and to install a “live kitchen” with all the electrical and plumbing to make it happen.

James Dukett got $199,000 toward a $502,000 estimated total project cost to build a mini-golf course and ice cream shop at 86 Demars Boulevard, listed in the DRI application as “Timberjaxx Pass.” This seasonal business would be open between May and October. This is 40% of the estimated total project cost.

While it is only seasonal, Rodriguez said it will provide a variety of experiences in Tupper Lake, and a good option for when the kids are “tired of hiking and trailing.”

“The corner of Demars and Santa Clara will not be the same,” Rodriguez said.

Currently, an abandoned gas station sits on the site there.

“As we know, every single DRI must have either a very cool wine bar or a brewery,” Rodriguez said with a laugh. “That’s just par for the course. … It is part of the ‘special sauce.'”

He announced that Sara Kriwox’s new Tupper Lake Brewing Company will be getting $148,000 to construct a new 850 square foot brewery and taproom with an outdoor beer garden at 138 Park St. This constitutes a 40% contribution toward a $370,000 estimated total project cost.

Rodriguez said this will provide “healthy competition” with Raquette River Brewing, which also got supporting money through the OWD grant.

RRB co-owner Mark Jessie said with the new brewing and canning facility at the OWD he’s planning to expand distribution around New York state.

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Village projects

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Rodriguez’s announcement of almost $2.5 million for streetscape enhancements in the village did not get applause as the other projects did, but he said it’s very important. The streets are the glue connecting the different areas of town, he said, and are responsible for a community’s image.

“Improvements to the corridor’s pedestrian and cycling experience include wayfinding, lighting, street trees and benches to create a unified Uptown streetscape aesthetic,” according to a press release from Hochul’s office.

The village had sought $3.6 million for these public works projects and got most of that fulfilled.

The DRI also will create a $600,000 Energize Uptown Fund for the village to distribute to projects that were too small to get DRI approval. This will be a fund for matching grants, intended for interior/exterior building improvements in the Uptown District, as well as business assistance.

“With revitalized waterfront trails, expanded housing options, and even a new brewery, Tupper Lake is shaping up to be a four-season, must-visit destination in New York,” Hochul said in a statement.

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