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Today's Poll: Should an effort be made to rehab the Wiss Hotel building in Le Roy?

By Howard B. Owens
Howard B. Owens

If it's in the form of a loan from the village, it is, as a long-term practical matter, private money.

Or would you rather see the money going down the proverbial drain, never to be seen again, in a demolition.

If the village spends $200K on demolition, there is never any recovery of the expenditure. The property becomes a vacant lot in need of expensive environment remediation. And so long as the village owns it, it's not generating tax revenue.

So which approach is the real waste of taxpayer money?

Nov 30, 2012, 10:30am Permalink
Brett DeKruger

I'm all for rehabbing old buildings and keeping the "small town feel" to main st. However, in the case of the Wiss, I just don't see it being feasible. I attended the meeting at the village hall last night, and what Mr.Hauser has accomplished in Perry is fantastic. He showed, I believe, 5 different buildings in downtown Perry that he has been involved in rehabbing/owning, etc. All have been a success.

There was one thing I noticed about all of these buildings however. Each and every one of them has a parking lot. The Wiss building has zero parking. Mr. Hauser's idea to alleviate this problem is to knock down the small white section of the building- the one with the Knight painted on it, and another small addition in the same area. Great!- Not so fast. See, the building to the east of the Wiss has a garage type door and this person's access would be blocked by the parking, and there is no access to this area from rte. 19 without driving into the bottle redemption parking lot. Imagine paying from approximately 900.00 to 1200.00 per month for a luxury apartment and having to deal with parking issues. Sure, there's four public parking lots within walking distance, but are the tennants really going to go for that? I don't think so. I wouldn't, but that's just me.

Another issue was mentioned by a young lady present for last night's meeting: The building is UGLY !!!!!!!!!! It has no architectural appeal whatsoever. It's just a big brick box. The windows aren't even placed symmetrically.

I know that a couple of people have gotten prices, not estimates, to knock down and haul away. Both came up with 175,00.00. This number is for a "hot" removal, which means there is no concern on the village's end as far as asbestos, lead, etc..

I also agree with Mike. NO GOVERNMENT FUNDS. Ask yourself, if this is such a great idea that will generate a positive cash flow, why not do it privately

Just my .02.

Nov 30, 2012, 11:02am Permalink
Howard B. Owens

I watched the presentation and didn't see a single parking lot associated with any of the buildings rehabbed in Perry.

And nearly all of the buildings now in productive use were as plain jane as the Wiss.

Nov 30, 2012, 1:28pm Permalink
Brett DeKruger

Howard, every one of Mr.Hauser's buildings, in his presentation, CLEARLY, had a parking lot directly behind, or to the side of it. I was at the same meeting as you.

Nov 30, 2012, 10:10pm Permalink

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