After years of state investment aimed at revitalizing downtown North Tonawanda, the city has marked completion of another piece of that redevelopment effort.
State and city officials cut the ribbon Wednesday on Smart Growth 2.0, a $1 million project funded through North Tonawanda’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative. The project includes improvements at Charles Fleischmann Park, along with streetscape, lighting and other pedestrian enhancements downtown.
“With this project, it really creates an anchor in our downtown area, a true investment, a true signature, that you know when you come here, you're in North Tonawanda,” Mayor Austin Tylec said.
The project builds on an earlier round of Smart Growth funding dating back nearly a decade.
In November 2017, North Tonawanda was selected to receive up to $2.5 million from New York's Western New York Smart Growth Community Fund, part of Buffalo Billion II. The program was intended to encourage the reuse of existing infrastructure to support walkable downtowns, placemaking improvements and sustainable development.
Work completed through that funding included new docks and utilities at Gateway Harbor, a new harbormaster facility, an expansion of Charles Fleischmann Park, and pedestrian and streetscape improvements downtown.
The city's Downtown Revitalization Initiative plan says the $2.5 million investment helped leverage an additional $5 million for those projects.
Smart Growth 2.0 is one of 14 projects selected as part of North Tonawanda's $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative award, which includes public, nonprofit and private development projects intended to expand downtown, waterfront access, housing and business opportunities.
Benjamin Bidell, a revitalization specialist with the New York State Department of State, said North Tonawanda has made significant progress implementing those projects and that Smart Growth 2.0 was completed ahead of schedule.
“This project here and this ribbon cutting really marks about the midway point of the city's DRI, and we anticipate that if the city continues at this pace, it'll be one of our communities that's able to finish quickest of all the DRI communities,” he said.
One of Smart Growth 2.0's most visible additions is a new clock tower at Fleischmann Park, an idea that traces back to a student design exercise in 2017. Niagara County Legislator Rich Andres said students in North Tonawanda High School's engineering academy were asked to envision what could be done with the park. One of the winning concepts included a clock tower and landscaped gathering space.
Officials also point to returns beyond the physical improvements.
Tylec said North Tonawanda has secured approximately $40 million in state and federal funding over the past five years. He said city figures show those investments have helped leverage more than $150 million in private investment.
“Our numbers show that with that investment from the state or federal level, we've actually been able to leverage well over $150 million in private investment, which is then related to what we see as approximately 300 new jobs, in addition to about 300 new residential units,” Tylec said.
State Sen. Rob Ortt pointed to the activity downtown as another sign of the city's momentum.
“You come down here on a given night; it doesn't matter if it's snowing or if it's humid as all heck as it is right now. People are here. You can't get a parking spot. Things are happening. People want to be here,” he said.
Among the DRI projects still ahead are streetscape and green infrastructure improvements along Oliver Street and a planned waterfront promenade on Tonawanda Island.
