Gateway Lofts

CCIDA and CCPEG-Related Projects Exceed $300 million in InvestmentsJAMESTOWN, NY -- At its February 25, 2025 meeting, the County of Chautauqua Industrial Development Agency (CCIDA) Board of Directors reviewed the Choose CHQ 2024 Annual Report, highlighting accomplishments for the past year. The report not only provided year-in-review details for the CCIDA, but also the 2024 accomplishments of the Chautauqua County Partnership for Economic Growth (CCPEG), an initiative under the CCIDA’s component agency, the Chautauqua Region Economic Development Corporation (CREDC). READ/DOWNLOAD THE FULL REPORT During the meeting, Mark Geise, Deputy County Executive for Economic Development, CCIDA CEO, and CCPEG Co-Chair, shared the CCIDA’s Top 10 Accomplishments for the year, along with its top 10 goals for 2025. Geise noted that the CCIDA was involved in 18 separate development project that will provide, if fully realized, an investment of over $311 million in the County. These projects would also result in the retention of 771 jobs, the creation of 166 new permanent jobs, and also provide 561 construction jobs. Projects that involve PILOTs (payments in lieu of taxes) will result in $4.9 million in new revenue for taxing jurisdictions over the terms of the PILOTs, which wouldn’t have been realized had these projects not moved forward. Some of the key 2024 accomplishments include: Wells Ice Cream Phase III Expansion ($175 million) (pictured); Southern Tier Environments for Living Gateway Lofts project ($67 million); Silver Creek Apartments LLC project ($20.2 million); Dahlstrom Rollform’s purchase by local ownership ($9 million); and the opening of Wicked Warren’s ($2.3 million). In total, the CCIDA board approved 12 loans to local business totaling $4.5 million. CCIDA also continued its focus on creating a $16+ million Shovel-Ready Industrial Site in Ripley and the development of a Talent Attraction/Retention Campaign, which launched as “Live CHQ” in April of this year. CCIDA and its affiliate agencies, including CCPEG, were also rebranded through the launch of the “Choose CHQ” brand and website. Another key accomplishment for CREDC was securing more than $1.5 million in funding from the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation to extend and enhance the impact CCPEG has had on the county. The annual report also included the Top 10 economic development goals for the involved agencies. These aspirations included aggressive proactive business retention and expansion; completing the shovel-ready sites in both Ripley and Ellicott; reactivating properties of community importance, including the Furniture Mart Building in Jamestown, the former Silver Creek High School, Lakeshore Hospital in Irving, the mothballed NRG Plant in Dunkirk, and the former Truck-Lite plant in Ellicott; assisting both ImmunityBio (Dunkirk) and Electrovaya (Ellicott) to ramp up operations; and continuing to focus on implementing recommendations from the County’s Economic Development Strategy through CREDC and CCPEG. “Through all of the uncertainty posed by a dynamic political and economic climate, the CCIDA team has once again delivered on its mission of attracting new businesses while promoting the retention and expansion of existing businesses,” Geise said. “While we no doubt see ebbs and flows in our organization and in our local, regional, state, and federal economies, the CCIDA and Chautauqua continue to evolve toward a better future.” In addition to the CCIDA and CREDC accomplishments and goals, the 2024 Annual Report also provided an update on various projects and activities involving CCPEG. According to Nathan Aldrich, County Economic Development Coordinator and CCPEG Manager, over $2.4 million in grant funding was secured by CCPEG to assist with its effort to advance 35 different projects focusing on economic development and placemaking initiatives across the county. These projects included the completion and launch of the Live CHQ Talent Attraction and Retention initiative (pictured); the completion of a county-wide Housing Market Assessment and Development Strategy; the launch of CHQTrails.org, the Chautauqua County Interactive Trails Map; continued upgrades and remediation to the Chautauqua County Overland Trails; and the successful launch of the Chautauqua County Grape & Grain Trail marketing initiative. CCPEG also provided nearly $250,000 in funding to 14 different partner-led economic development projects located across the county – which helped to leverage an additional $1.6 million from other sources to ensure those projects could move forward. Those projects included: the Hartley Park Waterfront Revitalization & Improvement Project in Lakewood; Theater Seats & Auditorium Improvements at the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts and the Key Market Growth Project for the National Comedy Center, both in Jamestown; the Advanced Manufacturing Program at Dream It, Do It Western New York; and a Strategic Growth Master Plan in Bemus Point. “CCPEG has lived up to its mission of serving as the catalyst and broker of resources for advancing economic development and placemaking efforts across the county,” Aldrich said. “It was gratifying to see so many of our projects cross the finish line in 2024, but thanks to renewed support from the Wilson Foundation and other funders, our work is only getting started.” “I am really proud of the work we are doing in assisting our partners, including municipalities, in undertaking transformative and meaningful projects,” Geise added. “Between the work we do at the CCIDA and through CCPEG, we have an extremely dynamic and gifted team. This has been illustrated through all the work we did in 2024, and we look forward to keeping the momentum going to help strengthen the economy in Chautauqua County in 2025 and in the years to come.” The complete Choose CHQ 2024 Annual Report, featuring information for both the CCIDA and CCPEG, is available on the Annual Report page at ChooseCHQ.com. About CCIDA - The CCIDA is an economic development organization authorized and empowered by the State of New York to make Chautauqua County a better place to work, live, and visit. It facilitates development by attracting new businesses, while promoting the retention and expansion of existing businesses. Assistance in the form of incentives – tax abatements, low interest loans, and bond financing – enhances the opportunities for job creation and retention by our businesses. For more information visit ChooseCHQ.com. About CCPEG - The Chautauqua County Partnership for Economic Growth (CCPEG) serves as the main convener of economic development partners and resources to advance key projects that achieve economic prosperity in Chautauqua County. It also serves as the catalyst and broker of resources for advancing economic prosperity efforts and is the central coordinating entity for the formation, retention, development, and attraction of quality jobs and advancements to the quality of life. It is an initiative of the Chautauqua Region Economic Development Corporation (CREDC). For more information, please visit CHQPartnership.org.

Funding comes from CCIDA’s new Brownfield Revolving Loan FundJAMESTOWN, NY -- The County of Chautauqua Industrial Development Agency (CCIDA) Board of Directors approved its first loan from a newly established Brownfield Revolving Loan Fund (BRLF) for brownfield cleanup and redevelopment. Southern Tier Environments for Living (STEL) was approved for a $325,000 low-interest loan that will help jumpstart the Gateway Lofts project at 31 Water Street in Jamestown. Loan funding will help with STEL’s urgent need to install a sub slab depressurization system, which is required by the New York State Department of Environmental Conversation before development can take place. The Gateway Lofts project will transform the Gateway Center, the former Chautauqua Hardware factory, into a 110-unit, multi-family affordable housing complex, which will be anchored by supportive wrap-around services. The $67 million project is a collaboration among Community Helping Hands, the YWCA of Jamestown, and STEL. STEL is hopeful that the overall project financing will be finalized in the coming months, with construction anticipated to begin in mid-to-late 2025. Deputy County Executive for Economic Development and CCIDA CEO, Mark Geise stated, “This type of project aligns perfectly with the intended purpose of the new BRLF, which is to provide critical gap financing to ensure complicated brownfield remediation and redevelopment projects can come to fruition. While this is a complex project, we’re excited to see it moving forward, and we hope our assistance will help get it over the finish line.” According to Tom Whitney, Executive Director of STEL, the Project was ready to close on all sources of financing in April 2020. Unfortunately, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the tax credit investor for the project pulled out. Inflationary factors contributed to a much higher overall project cost; however, STEL has the project back on track with all required local approvals obtained and a new investor on board.  “We are incredibly thankful to the CCIDA for providing critical financing for the environmental-cleanup and monitoring components of this project while we wait for New York State Brownfield Tax Credits to become available,” said Whitney.  “We’re hopeful that with this challenge addressed, we can button up the remaining project components and move to construction next year.”  This project marks the second time the CCIDA and STEL have collaborated in the last year. In 2023, STEL and their partner, Park Grove Development, took over as the developer of the Silver Creek High School property in the village of Silver Creek. That project, which involves the demolition of the derelict former school building and the development of 54 affordable senior housing units, is slated to close and move forward by the end of 2024. “STEL has been a great partner of the CCIDA in redeveloping key properties of community importance, delivering more affordable housing opportunities, and eliminating blight in Chautauqua County, all of which align with our economic development goals,” said Geise. “I can’t thank Tom Whitney and his team enough for their determination in making these complicated projects realities.” In 2019, Chautauqua County and the CCIDA re-engaged in brownfields redevelopment activities to improve blighted and underutilized areas in the County, improve the health and safety of its citizens by cleaning up contaminated sites, increase the County’s tax base, spur job creation, and where applicable, kick-start revitalization activities within neighborhoods throughout the municipalities in the County. The CCIDA was able to establish its BRLF in 2023 after it applied for and received a $600,000 United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant in late 2022 to initiate this program. Coupled with funding the CCIDA received from Chautauqua County, the Agency’s BRLF was established to provide loans to for-profit and non-profit developers, and subgrants to municipalities to facilitate brownfield remediation and redevelopment of key properties. Being accepted into this program also places the CCIDA in a favorable position to secure supplemental EPA resources to replenish the fund as more loans are made. “It was imperative Chautauqua County Government support the establishment of the CCIDA’s Brownfield Revolving Loan Fund,” said Paul “PJ” Wendel, Chautauqua County Executive. “Like so many other municipalities in the Northeast, there is a long list of legacy industrial sites in Chautauqua County that need attention and remediation. This fund will help in that effort and, as a result, help to grow and strengthen our local economy as we continue to move forward.” Since its inception in 1995, EPA’s investments in brownfield sites have leveraged more than $35 billion in cleanup and redevelopment activities, which has led to significant benefits for communities across the country. The CCIDA was one of only 17 awardees across the Unites States to receive a Revolving Loan Fund grant to establish the program. About CCIDA - The CCIDA is an economic development organization authorized and empowered by the State of New York to make Chautauqua County a better place to work, live, and visit. It facilitates development by attracting new businesses, while promoting the retention and expansion of existing businesses. Assistance in the form of incentives – tax abatements, low interest loans, and bond financing – enhances the opportunities for job creation and retention by our businesses. For more information visit ChooseCHQ.com.