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Division of Housing & Community Renewal

Office of Community Renewal Helping to Revitalize City of North Tonawanda

Slideshow
In the lobby of the beautiful Riviera Theatre, from left to right: Tom VanNortwick, DHCR regional director; Mayor Robert Ortt; Jim Sullivan, executive director of LCDC; Angela Johnson from LCDC; Frank Cannata, executive director of the Riviera Theatre and Performing Arts Center; Maureen Palumbo from the Office of Community Renewal and Chuck Bell, who is also from LCDC.

The Lumber City Development Corporation (LCDC) has had tremendous success using the New York Main Street and NYS Community Development Block Grant (NYS CDBG) programs to bring new life and vitality to the City of North Tonawanda. LCDC has used NY Main Street funds to rehabilitate the beautiful Riviera Theatre, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, and to assist 13 commercial units and make streetscape enhancements.

Last year, LCDC was awarded additional NY Main Street and NYS Community Development Block Grant funds to help purchase and begin the conversion of the vacant "Teddy Bear Building" a 19th century, 3-story structure that most recently housed Teddy Bear Carpets and Fabrics. The building, across the Street from the Riviera Theatre, will house a boutique hotel and restaurant to serve the increasing number of visitors to downtown.

To mark their success and discuss future plans and projects, LCDC and the City of North Tonawanda recently hosted a walking tour of downtown, highlighting their NY Main Street and NYS CDBG endeavors.

Tom VanNortwick, director of DHCR's Buffalo Regional Office, and Maureen Palumbo, who oversees the NY Main Street program for the Office of Community Renewal in Western New York, joined Mayor Robert Ortt and more than 25 investors and business owners for the tour. They were impressed with what they saw.

"I consider this to be a major success," Van Nortwick said. "What we have here is exactly what we had in mind for the program."

Last Updated: 03/09/10