Mt. Pleasant Seeking Funds for Ambitious Downtown Revitalization

The Town of Mount Pleasant will move forward on a multimillion dollar downtown revitalization plan once it obtains the necessary funding.

Supervisor Carl Fulgenzi said the town is targeting another $3 million in state grants to fund the projects to revamp the stretch of Elwood Avenue from Hawthorne to Thornwood. In August, the town received a $500,000 state grant.

Fulgenzi said downtown revitalization has been needed for years.

“It’s in dire need of an uplift,” he said. “We really believe that if we enhance the downtown to make it more attractive to people driving through that would enhance business.”

The supervisor said he does not want to use town taxpayer dollars to pay for the work that is along state routes. Mount Pleasant has applied for additional grants this year and will continue to do so in the future, he said.

Mount Pleasant needs a total of about $3.5 million to pay for roadwork, sidewalks and curbing, plantings, lighting projects and to create additional parking. The projects will be done along the two-mile corridor on Elwood Avenue in Hawthorne from Cross Street to the Four Corners in Thornwood, the intersection of Commerce Street, Franklin Avenue, Marble Avenue and Columbus Avenue.

Once the funding is accumulated, the projects will be done in stages, starting with Cross Street, then proceeding north, Fulgenzi said. The second phase would end at the Four Corners. The town would hire outside contractors, but town employees could assist in some of the projects, he said. Each phase would take about one year to complete.

The town board is exploring zoning changes that would allow apartments above downtown businesses, which could generate additional revenues for merchants and property owners, Fulgenzi said. The extra money could be used by owners to make improvements to their properties, he said.

Fulgenzi said he hoped there would be specialty stores and evening destinations in a revitalized downtown, including coffee shops and more restaurants with seasonal outdoor seating. Town officials hope the revitalization will encourage more pedestrian traffic and entice some commuters to walk to the Hawthorne Metro-North station.

“We want to create a place where people want to go,” Fulgenzi said.

Additional housing is needed in the area due to recently approved commercial projects and more that are being proposed, he said.

The town board will form a committee within the next two months to develop ideas for the downtown’s future, Fulgenzi said.

A key piece of the makeover is to demolish the building that formerly housed Bel Paese, an Italian restaurant on Elwood Avenue across the street from the train station. The town recently completed the foreclosure process and now owns the land.

Fulgenzi said he is in the process of obtaining estimates for asbestos removal and the demolition. The town board will have to approve the expenditure. He hopes that the building is taken down next month.

“The future of the site has not been determined yet as the parcels on either side are still owned by the previous investor,” Fulgenzi said. “But it will be a focal point for our downtown revitalization plans. Our number one priority will be to have the eyesore removed and the property cleaned up as soon as possible.”

The land will remain vacant after the demolition until the downtown revitalization process begins.

Last month, the Board of Legislators approved a bond act for $325,000 to redesign a section of Commerce Street that included the intersection with Elwood Road, the site of numerous traffic accidents and a pedestrian fatality in 2013.

County Legislator Margaret Cunzio (C-Mount Pleasant) said while the project is separate from the town’s downtown revitalization it is part of the same area that needs to be improved for motorists and pedestrians.

“Road work may seem like a pretty unexciting function of local governments but when it results in a safer road it could mean saving a life, and that is very exciting,” Cunzio said.

In addition to redesigning the intersection, the money will also include the design phase for the rehabilitation of 1.23 miles of Commerce Street. Design is expected to last about six months, with construction likely to take about nine months.