CATSKILL — Greene County’s unfolding Exit 21 development got a boost Wednesday when the Legislature voted to add $100,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds to the original $2,139,000 project cost.
The project description calls for the Stewart’s Shop on Route 23 near New York State Thruway Exit 21 to close and move into a new store across the highway. A new county Tourism Center would then move into the former Stewart’s Shop building. Additional plans for the site include an 80-room upper-midscale Hampton Inn by Hilton, and a fourth, undetermined establishment, according to the Greene County Industrial Development Agency.
Greene County Administrator Shaun Groden said the Legislature approved the ARPA allocation because the project is in need of additional funding.
“We’re going to have a contract with Central Hudson to install a natural gas line that will run to the hotel and the Stewart’s,” Groden said. “The hotel needs natural gas to augment its electric power and Stewart’s also uses natural gas.”
The old Greene County Tourism Center has been demolished, and the Stewart’s Shop will move into its new building as soon as the company removes the store’s underground gasoline storage tanks and gas islands.
Groden said the IDA is spearheading the Tourism Center portion of the project and plans to build an access road into the hotel and the restaurant.
“Most likely the hotel developers will be instrumental in landing a restaurant deal, because as they’re building their hotel they’ll want a companion piece,” Groden said. “It will most likely be a franchise. At that location you probably want a national name. That’s not to say if someone local wanted to build there they couldn’t.”
In August, the Catskill Town Planning Board reviewed Stewart’s plans and approved a special use permit for the Tourism Center. In addition to donating their old building to the county, Stewart’s Shops will remove the gas tanks from the site, obtaining the necessary New York State Department of Environmental Conservation approvals and demolishing the old tourism building.
Tourism Department staffers have been temporarily moved into new offices in preparation for site work at the Exit 21 site. The department has vacated the Exit 21 Visitor Center and moved its offices to the fourth floor of the Greene County Office Building at 411 Main St. in Catskill.
The existing Visitor Center has been demolished to make way for a new Stewart’s Shop, Groden said. Stewart’s is donating its existing building to Greene County and it will be remodeled into a new and larger visitor hub named the Great Northern Catskills of Greene County Visitors Center. Groden added that the building will be renovated with new windows, doors and furnishing.