Liverpool, N.Y. (NCC News) — Onondaga Lake was once one of the most polluted bodies of water in the United States. But in recent years, environmental changes have begun to restore the lake’s ecosystem. Similar changes are planned for aging commercial properties in the village of Liverpool, along the lake’s northeast shore.
Six of these properties along First Street will undergo exterior restorations in the next year. These renovations in Liverpool will kick off Onondaga County’s main street commercial rehab project. This program is part of the county’s larger economic development plan to strengthen the identities of its suburbs, according to Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon.
“A centerpiece of our plan has been to reinvest in main streets in villages,” McMahon said. “We want to create town centers and suburban towns that have an identity. They’re not just residential neighborhoods.”
The county has invested $455,000 into Liverpool’s First Street, while the owners of the buildings have contributed $270,000. The remaining $279,000 came from a state grant Onondaga County received in late 2018, totaling more than $1 million of funding. The money will be awarded to contractors who bid on the work, McMahon said.
Lucretia Hudzinski, executive director of the Greater Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, said the renovations are much needed.
“There are a few properties that are really in disrepair,” Hudzinski said. “Some of the mortar was breaking away from the bricks, they hadn’t been painted in a while, and windows need to be changed.”
Hudzinski thinks the First Street restorations will draw even more people to the area.
“When they open apartments here they go like crazy,” she said. “Because it’s a walking area, people can go to the grocery store, they can go to the hair salon, they can go eat. It’s just a very friendly and very safe village.”
The Liverpool restorations are currently in the design phase. County architects are working with the business owners to ensure conformity in design, according to McMahon.
“So you come up with the designs and how you want it to look,” McMahon said. “Then you have to do [request for proposals] for the companies that will actually bid on the work. Then you award the bids, and then those contractors will start doing the projects.”
McMahon added the state grant and the contributions from the property owners made it possible for the Liverpool renovations to begin this summer.
“Without property owners participating as well, we probably wouldn’t have led with Liverpool,” he said. “But we had property owners willing to invest, the county willing to invest, and then we received a state grants, which helped make this a pretty substantial program.”
McMahon is excited about the Liverpool project because the village’s waterfront location presents more opportunities for investment.
“Liverpool has had a lot of success because of its location,” he said. “We think that this program will give them a shot in the arm, and that there will be more and more investment there.”
McMahon also plans to extend the county’s main street program to other villages. He has asked the Onondaga County Legislature to set aside $1.5 million for future main street projects. Villages will then have the opportunity to apply for grants to fund these kinds of restorations, according to McMahon.
“It’ll be a competitive process,” he said. “We’ll dive in and hopefully have four or five more main street programs going into the county next year.”
