JOHNSTOWN — A Fulton County Center for Regional Growth official touted community development and marketing taking place, including in the city of Gloversville in a recent report to county legislators.
“We have a lot of irons in the fire,” CRG President/CEO Ronald Peters told the Fulton County Board of Supervisors’ Economic Development and Environment Committee at the County Office Building.
In the area of business recruitment, he stated: “We met with three developers looking at potential housing developments in Gloversville and the rest of the county.”
Those developers in Gloversville include: possible 15 to 20-person operation downtown, potential project in vacant building downtown, and housing for the Burr Street area.
Peters reported the new True Value store on Bleecker Street in Gloversville recently had a “soft” and grand openings. He said the project will lead to 12-15 jobs in downtown Gloversville.
The CRG is assisting the Family Counseling Center on Broadway in Gloversville with a $6 million expansion. he said.
Peters noted the city of Gloversville recently received “great news” — a $300,000 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant — to be used for site evaluation. He said the city was one of 168 communities to receive EPA funding out of “hundreds” of applicants. He said this will lead to additional EPA money for cleanups.
“It took three years to get that,” the CRG official said of the grant.
Peters said the CRG is in initial stages of working toward developing housing programs aimed at first-time buyers, and creating and enhancing economic development opportunities for Fulton County farmers.
“We’re putting together a team,” he said. “That will probably take six months or so.”
Farming is an “important ingredient” to Fulton County’s financial success,” he said.
“We’re going to start massaging that some more,” Peters said.
Elsewhere in Fulton County, Peters said the CRG continues to work on financing for a “smaller” restaurant in the city of Johnstown. He said a tentative date was set to make a presentation to Johnstown businesses about financing opportunities.
Peters said the CRG is working on a restaurant project in Caroga Lake. The agency received a financial application and presented to other lending groups. He said the CRG also continues to act as a resource for the Caroga Lake Firehouse.
Two microbrewerys are still developing in Mayfield, and the CRG is working with a possible distillery in the town of Johnstown, Peters said.
CRG business inquiries have included: a group seeking a 2,000 to 4,000-square-foot warehouse; site selector broker looking for a 100,000-square-foot build to site a warehouse; and a broker looking for a 20,000-square-foot building.
Michael Anich covers Johnstown and Fulton County news. He can be reached at [email protected]
