City of Norwich, NY Wins Much Needed $10M Southern Tier Downtown Revitalization Award
Norwich, NY is the latest winner in New York State's Downtown Revitalization Initiative to give a needed economic boost to select communities that will help that municipality become a more vibrant community. According to Governor Hochul's office, Norwich won $10 million in the fifth round of the Southern Tier Downtown Revitalization Initiative award. That $10 million will be earmarked for economic development projects.
In this latest round of DRI awards, two $10 million prizes are to be allocated in each of the 10 economic development regions in New York State. Norwich falls in the Southern Tier Region. The other DRI winner in the Southern Tier is the Village of Endicott.
Governor Hochul made this comment regarding the DRI award to Norwich, "Not only will this funding help Norwich transform its downtown area for those who live and work there, but it also gives the village the jumpstart it needs to create jobs and grow the economy."
What will Norwich do with the grant money? According to the Governor's Office, Norwich officials want to focus on their downtown area by redeveloping an old school building and turning it into a mixed-use building, improving connectivity between the local museums, and focusing on clean energy development with solar farms near Norwich. Other plans include expanding entertainment options and improving bike/pedestrian safety and accessibility.
The Downtown Revitalization Initiative, which was presented in Governor Andrew Cuomo's 2016 State of the State address, also awarded The City of Oneonta in 2016 with $10M to boost its Downtown and it took a while but Downtown Oneonta businesses who applied to receive a portion of that DRI grant money have been benefiting from new signs, awnings, façade improvements, creation of upper floor market-rate housing, and transformative projects improvements like the Lofts on Dietz housing project. You can learn more about Oneonta's DRI plans here.
Winners of DRI awards must be nominated in a competitive process by the state’s respective Regional Economic Development Councils and all winners receive $10 million in state funding to generate opportunities for long-term growth and prosperity.