Canton Midtown Plaza Demolition Clears Way for $27M Redevelopment

Demolition and environmental abatement are underway at Midtown Plaza in downtown Canton, clearing a site that has been largely vacant since 2000 for a mixed use redevelopment valued at more than $27 million, Empire State Development announced on October 15. The demolition phase is expected to be finished by late October.

What Happened

ESD marked the start of demolition at the Miner Street plaza in the St. Lawrence County village, a step local officials have been working toward for years Empire State Development. The plaza emptied out after Jubilee closed, and it has sat mostly vacant since 2000.

"By clearing away years of blight and investment stagnation, we are making room for downtown Canton's vibrant future," Governor Kathy Hochul said in the release. Village of Canton Mayor Michael E. Dalton acknowledged the long road: "Projects like this often take time to come together and this is no exception."

What Will Be Built

The developer is Vecino Group. The plan calls for a new three story mixed use building with residential units, a SUNY Canton entrepreneurship center as the commercial anchor and 2,500 square feet of commercial and retail space Empire State Development. The center, which the release also calls an innovation center, will include a small business incubator, co working stations, conference rooms and business development resources.

The redevelopment will also replace parking lots and surrounding grounds with a 3.76 acre public space tied into the Main Street corridor. "This is an important step toward bringing Midtown Plaza back into the daily life of downtown Canton," said Rob Holzman, vice president of planning and acquisitions at Vecino Group.

ESD's release does not give a housing unit count. Earlier reporting on the project's tax agreement by NNY360 described a $27.2 million plan by Vecino Group New York LLC to demolish an existing 20,000 square foot building at 19, 25 and 27 Miner Street and replace it with a 68,000 square foot, three story building. In that plan, a 10,000 square foot innovation center for SUNY Canton would fill the ground floor, with 60 affordable housing units on the second and third floors NNY360.

How It Is Funded

The state is providing more than $6.8 million in direct assistance, and the project draws on six public and utility sources in total Empire State Development:

• A $2 million Restore NY award to the Village of Canton, administered by ESD, for site revitalization, abatement, demolition and reconstruction.
• A $2 million NY Forward award from the Department of State, administered by New York State Homes and Community Renewal, for the plaza redevelopment. The village was named a $4.5 million NY Forward Round 2 community in 2024.
• A $1.5 million Northern New York Power Proceeds award from the New York Power Authority to Vecino Group for machinery, equipment, furniture and fixtures in the innovation center.
• A $1.322 million Regional Council Capital Fund grant from ESD to SUNY Canton for site redevelopment and construction of the center.
• A $2.641 million U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development award through Congressionally Directed Spending, supported by Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand.
• A $300,000 National Grid grant through its Brownfield Redevelopment Assistance Program for abatement, demolition and site preparation.

The project also has a local tax agreement. NNY360 reported that the Town of Canton approved a revised payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) under which the developer pays $20,000 across the first three years of construction, $49,200 in year four, rising each year to $87,372 by year 33 NNY360. If shelter rent exceeds $492,000 after year four, 20 percent of the excess goes to the taxing jurisdictions. The St. Lawrence County IDA bills and distributes the payments to the town, village, county and Canton Central School District. That report noted final approval also required votes by the village board and school district.

Where Things Stand

Demolition and abatement are the current phase, with completion expected by late October Empire State Development. The release did not name the demolition contractor, a general contractor for the new building or a construction start date. NNY360 described the project as having been in the works for 25 years NNY360.

SUNY Canton President Zvi Szafran said, "We look forward to our continued work together to bring it to life." ESD President, CEO and Commissioner Hope Knight said demolition "clears the path for dynamic new housing and commercial innovation in Canton."

Implications for Owners, Developers, Contractors and Subs

• Stacked funding is the norm upstate. Six separate awards, plus a PILOT, sit behind one small town mixed use building. Each source carries its own reporting and procurement rules that contractors should understand before bidding.
• Brownfield prep comes first. Abatement and demolition money from Restore NY and National Grid show that site cleanup is often a funded, separate scope that precedes vertical work.
• Institutional anchors reduce risk. A SUNY tenant for the ground floor gives the project a committed commercial use, which helps lenders and makes the housing above easier to finance.
• Small towns, real volume. Programs such as NY Forward and the Downtown Revitalization Initiative are steadily producing mid sized building projects across upstate New York, a market well suited to regional general contractors and trades.

What to Watch

• Completion of demolition by late October and any announcement of a construction start for the new building.
• Confirmation of the final housing unit count and income levels.
• Contractor selection for the vertical construction phase.

Bottom Line

After roughly a quarter century of vacancy and planning, Canton's Midtown Plaza is coming down, and the state funding stack is in place for a SUNY anchored mixed use building with housing above. It follows a familiar upstate pattern seen in our coverage of DRI and NY Forward projects in Western New York and the state's newly opened third round of county infrastructure grants.

Related Coverage

• New York Invests $18.7 Million Across 21 Projects in Western New York Through DRI and NY Forward Programs
• Update: NY Opens $76M Third Round of County Infrastructure Grants
• Greece Gets $5 Million to Buy Mall Land for Senior Housing

Image credit: Bernd Dittrich on Unsplash. Representative photo of an excavator at a demolition site; no usable image was available from the source articles.

Sources

• Empire State Development, "Empire State Development Announces Demolition of Canton Midtown Plaza, Advancing $27M-Plus Redevelopment Project": https://esd.ny.gov/esd-media-center/press-releases/empire-state-development-announces-demolition-canton-midtown-plaza
• NNY360, "Town of Canton approves tax deal for Midtown Plaza project": https://www.nny360.com/communitynews/business/town-of-canton-approves-tax-deal-for-midtown-plaza-project/article_b502d3d3-6f3d-5a52-a2bc-98362724ca61.html