Salina — A hotel project in Salina will benefit from an influx of state redevelopment money, according to Salina Supervisor Mark Nicotra.
Last week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that Central New York would be one of three regions across the state to receive $500 million in funding through his Upstate Revitalization Initiative (URI), which seeks to create jobs and spur the local economy through investment in new projects. CNY’s Regional Economic Development Council (REDC) submitted an 87-page proposal to Albany that included several possible projects. Among those projects was Prima Terra Properties, LLC’s Crossroads Project, which includes the construction of a new Hampton Inn and Suites as well as the development of three outparcels for lease with uses complementary to the hotel.
The property, located at 1305 Buckley Road near the intersection with Seventh North Street, is currently home to a Ramada Inn, which will be razed to make way for the new hotel, according to Anthony Mangano. Mangano, president and majority shareholder of Syramada Hotel Corporation in Syracuse, owns and operates the property and is a descendant of the Emmi family that has owned the land on which the property stands.
“We’ve always owned that land. That was our family’s farmland,” Mangano said. “We farmed it for a long time.”
The family purchased the hotel in 1982. Mangano, who owns four hotels near the Seventh North Street exit off Route 81, plans to revitalize the property by tearing down the 150-room Ramada and replacing it with a 124-room Hampton Inn and Suites.
“It’s on a smaller portion of land than the Ramada,” Mangano said of the new hotel. “It’s our intention to develop the outparcels. We’re currently looking for tenants for those parcels.”
Mangano said he and his partners are looking to lease to businesses like restaurants or others that would benefit travelers and those staying at a hotel.
continued — “We’re not going to put in a doctor’s office or something there,” he said.
Mangano said he submitted an application to REDC earlier this year and the committee approved it to go on to Albany to be reviewed for URI funding. He said he and his partners had not yet decided if they would accept the $1 million the state was offering.
“We don’t know what exactly is involved, what stipulations and contingencies the state may impose, so we need to learn more about what’s involved before we decide if we’re going to accept it,” he said.
Supervisor Mark Nicotra called the Prima Terra project a “gateway project” for the town because of its location off Route 81.
“Because of where it’s located, it certainly could foster a lot of development in that area,” Nicotra said.
Mangano said there has already been significant activity in the area.
“The Burger King has recently made some improvements, and the Flat Iron Grill reopened — that had been closed and just reopened as a new restaurant. BOCES bought the old Nationwide building and they’re doing a lot of work over there,” he said. “There’s a lot more traffic in the area in the last few years. We’re hoping to jumpstart other development in the area and motivate other adjacent properties to make improvements to their buildings.”
Mangano said the company hopes to break ground on the project in March of 2016. Construction should take about a year.
Other projects approved for URI funding include six of what the REDC called “signature investments,” which it projected would create some 6,000 jobs over the next five years:
- A drone research and development center
- The construction of indoor farms, including one at the White Pine Commerce Park in Clay
- An inland port in Jamesville
- A national veterans resource complex at Syracuse University
- Efforts to consolidate local government
- Programs to fight poverty
Nicotra said whatever the funding is used for, it could prove to be a game-changer for Central New York.
“Any time there is an influx of capital, that’s a good thing, and this is going to be a good thing for the next several years going forward,” he said. “It’s going to stimulate the economy and create jobs for the area. This is very good news.”
