Downtown Lockport in Western New York

DRI-Winning Round 3 Projects Are Set to Transform NYS Downtowns

It’s been a transformational summer for the Downtown Revitalization Initiative—investing $10 million in communities across the state that have a winning vision for remaking their downtowns. In July and August, the Governor announced details of the winning projects from Round Three communities and began announcing its Round Four winners. Highlights of winning projects:

  • Capital Region--Albany: Albany’s Clinton Square neighborhood, rich in arts, history and culture, is set to become a thriving gateway connecting downtown and the Warehouse District with enhanced and improved streetscapes and providing new development that includes affordable housing, residential and artists’ exhibition spaces and local Death Wish Coffee Company’s first standalone café. 
  • Central New York—Auburn: Auburn will reclaim its rich cultural and artistic heritage, building on existing downtown historic assets with restoration of a historic theater and museum spaces, revamping a strip mall for a public safety building; creating modern facilities for culinary arts, addiction and health care services; and new mixed-use development.
  • Finger Lakes—Penn Yan: Planned Penn Yan projects will capitalize on the village as a food and craft beverage industry hub and on the area’s natural beauty—transforming empty and underused spaces into restaurants, a bakery, mixed-use developments and housing; revitalizing historic buildings, including a theater, hotels and inns; improving waterfront spaces and expanding a parks and trails network.  
  • Long Island—Central Islip:  Winning DRI projects will leverage access to the Long Island Railroad and continue the transit-oriented development that will make Central Islip a hub for the community, with infrastructure and pedestrian improvements, redevelopment of a former train station and building rehab and improvements to create additional commercial and residential opportunities.
  • Mid-Hudson—New Rochelle:  New Rochelle will leverage DRI investments to better connect its residential areas to cultural and commercial resources, with planned projects that will improve traffic circulation, repurpose a stretch of highway as a public space for recreation, create a new theater and education center and encourage new neighborhood-scale development and affordable housing.
Rendering of Pendragon Theatre

​(Rendering of Pendragon Theatre)

  • Mohawk Valley—Amsterdam: Amsterdam will create more waterfront access and amenities including a new creekside trail, dock, boat lifts and storage facilities—plus other improvements including new dog and skateboard parks and community recreation centers, an expanded and renovated library and transformation of the historic former Key Bank building into a mixed-use development.   
  • New York City—Brooklyn: Downtown Brooklyn’s emergence as a cultural, economic and entertainment center will continue through DRI projects to improve streetscapes, transform the Walt Whitman library into a community hub, create a digital tech space within a community center, upgrade public park and play spaces and offer new opportunities for artists and cultural organizations to expand their reach.       
  • North Country—Saranac Lake: DRI projects will build on public-private investments and create more year-round amenities in downtown Saranac Lake: a more walkable community core, addition of the village’s first brewery—and, all from the rehabilitation of old buildings: a new children’s museum, a new entrepreneurial business center, a new home for Pendragon Theatre and a new history museum.
  • Southern Tier—Owego: This riverfront community will further build jobs and community through DRI projects that enhance Owego’s waterfront, recreational and cultural amenities—with updates to the city’s art center, library and museums and add to the village’s business growth with multi-site upgrades to buildings for housing and commercial uses, creation of an industrial employment hub and necessary upgrades to infrastructure.     
  • Western NY—Lockport: DRI investments will unlock downtown Lockport’s full potential with projects that will create a livable, walkable and sustainable community through: improvements to the historic Spalding Mill Building and rehabilitation of other historic and landmark sites, including the post office and vacant Farmers & Mechanics building, to add space for restaurants or mixed-use development; completing the Palace Theatre’s restoration; and fully implementing an entrepreneurial business hub.