NIAGARA COUNTY
IDA OKs loans, sets hearings
WHEATFIELD — In a busy meeting last week, the Niagara County Industrial Development Agency board set public hearings for several projects and approved a batch of small business loans.
Calamar Development, a frequent recipient of IDA aid, was back on the agenda with an application for aid for a $9.3 million, 92-unit senior citizen housing project at its Woodlands Senior Village off Shawnee Road.
A public hearing on a 15-year payment in lieu of taxes agreement was set for 4:30 p. m. Sept. 9 in the IDA offices.
IDA Chairman Henry M. Sloma said IDA incentives would allow Calamar to maintain affordable rents for seniors.
Calamar plans to start construction by the end of September and finish the project within 18 months, according to its application.
Within its own industrial park, the IDA received an application for a 15-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes, or PILOT, agreement from Compact Mold East, a company that makes and repairs molds for the plastics industry. That firm, founded in 1978 in Canada, moved to Virginia in 1987 and now plans to relocate here.
David C. Chamberlain of Lockport, who received IDA aid to construct a multi-tenant building in the IDA’s Vantage International Pointe industrial park, is selling space there as industrial condominiums. “It seems to be the trend,” Chamberlain said.
The 23,000-square-foot purchase, a $1.3 million deal, would bring seven jobs. The company, also known as Virginia One, is still controlled by Ontario residents.
“I feel we will be a success here as well,” company executive Paul Fumo said.
A public hearing on the deal is set for 4 p. m. Sept. 9 in the IDA offices.
Sloma left the meeting room to abstain from discussion on an expansion proposal from Northgate Manor Nursing Home on Nash Road, which sought a 15-year PILOT for a 4,200-square-foot addition.
The $693,500 project would add dialysis services to the offerings at Northgate, and would create about 10 new jobs.
The dialysis services would be offered by Apollo LTC, a company headed by Sloma’s son Michael S. Sloma, which would sublease space in the building. Dialysis is to begin about June 1, according to the application. The agency called a public hearing on that project for 4 p. m. Sept. 16 in its offices.
Also, the IDA board voted unanimously to accept a preliminary application from Merritt Plywood Machinery on Simonds Street in Lockport, which wants to extend a current PILOT to 2023. It did not set a public hearing date.
The board approved a $50,000, five-year loan to Crazy Jakes, a bar and banquet room on Webster Street in North Tonawanda. Owner Greg Doel opened the business on the first weekend of August.
Scrubz, a specialty medical apparel store that opened in January on Military Road in the Town of Niagara, received a $25,000, six-year loan. The owner is Beverly Wilson, a former nurse.
Elegant Kitchens by Design, a design-only kitchen company that refers clients to contractors, was given a five-year, $25,000 loan. The owner of the business on Niagara Falls Boulevard in Wheatfield is Rachel A. Leo, a former employee of Weinheimer’s in Amherst and Kitchen World in Lockport.
