Niagara ‘wine emporium’ proposed
The city is asking Niagara County for $100,000 to help launch a Wine Emporium on Canal Street.
On behalf of Beautiful Visions LLC, the city earlier this month filed an application for a Niagara River Greenway grant to complete the purchase and furnishing of 79 Canal St.
Beautiful Visions, a separate company by J. Fitzgerald Group partners Jack Martin and Carmel Cerullo-Beiter, would rent the building to Margo Bittner’s Appleton Creek Winery LLC as a satellite winery.
According to Martin, the Wine Emporium would sell all Niagara County-produced wines and a host of other locally grown and created goods.
His ambitious vision has the emporium serving both tourists and residents, jumpstarting redevelopment of the long-dormant Canal Street block and strengthening Niagara agribusiness all at once.
“In this kind of economy, it’s a good thing, instead of each business struggling to get by, we all help each other grow,” Martin said.
Everything’s still in concept stage but the gist, according to Martin and Bittner, is the emporium would sell wines and other products of members of the Niagara Wine Trail who rent shelf space. It could also sell locally produced food goods such as honey and jams; art, crafts, local gift baskets and tourism-related items such as T-shirts.
What exactly could be sold in addition to wine is still up in the air; Bittner’s company would get the liquor license, so wine may be sold and served on site, but the state liquor authority, in turn, limits what can be sold there. Fresh fruit and unpackaged/ready-to-eat food could not be sold, for instance, Martin said.
The emporium would capitalize on location — between Erie Canal Discovery Center and Lockport Underground Cave Tours/overlooking the Erie Canal locks — to both draw and serve visitors, according to Martin. The business plan calls for the emporium to refer visitors, “concierge style,” not just to the wineries along Niagara Wine Trail but also to tourist attractions and places of hospitality countywide.
J. Fitzgerald Group, a West Main Street-based advertising/marketing firm, would provide the publicity and promotions for the emporium, including a Web site where orders could be placed for all-Niagara County goods gift baskets.
“There’s a great need for this sort of thing,” Martin said of Niagara-centric marketing. For the city, he added, “I see it as a catalyst for Canal Street.”
The city is seeking a Niagara River Greenway grant on the premise the project fits a greenway goal of increasing access to and from local waterfront, in this case the canal and related attractions. Lockport is not in the Greenway area, but Niagara County gets $390,000 in greenway funding every year, as part of the 50-year deal Niagara Power Coalition struck with New York Power Authority in relicensing of the Niagara Power Project.
The city estimates it will cost $195,000 to buy and equip 79 Canal St. Beautiful Visions would kick in $95,000 and take the deed, which currently is held by the city/Greater Lockport Development Corp. The grant would cover the remainder of building purchase cost — GLDC offered to sell it for $115,000 — and interior build-out.
Martin won’t make a formal purchase offer until a decision is rendered on the grant request, he said Monday.
The grant is important to Niagara Wine Trail, group President Oscar Vizcarra said, because ultimately it decreases costs for members who want in on the emporium. If furnishing costs were folded into rent, the bill could be too high for members.
Mayor Michael Tucker vouched for the project in the grant application, writing in a support letter that the emporium would be the “stimulus to entice other businesses” to the Canal Street block. GLDC has showed 79 Canal to several prospective buyers but is holding them off in the hope Beautiful Visions goes for the purchase; it has “first dibs” at the moment, he said, because its proposal satisfies two GLDC goals — recruiting retail and increasing downtown’s tourist appeal.
“It’s important for us to get a business over there and get the ball rolling, but we’re much more concerned with what goes in than just filling it,” Tucker said. “This is a great project, by far the best one I’ve heard yet. It spurs investment in the city and helps the county as a whole at the same time.”
The Niagara River Greenway Commission is undertaking “consistency” review of 10 grant proposals now. Through April 30, members of the public are invited to comment on the proposals and how well they fit the greenway plan. The plan can be viewed at www.niagaragreenway.org; comments can be submitted at the Web site or mailed to the commission at 2136 W. Oakfield Road, Grand Island, NY 14072.
A county Legislature vetting committee also will look over the emporium request. Normally, according to legislator Andrea McNulty, D-North Tonawanda, the committee would refer the application to the greenway commission on merit, but because the application deadline was approaching in mid-March, legislators consented to let the city go to the commission first. The Legislature approves county greenway grants based partly on the commission’s recommendation.
news source :- Niagara ‘wine emporium’ proposed
On behalf of Beautiful Visions LLC, the city earlier this month filed an application for a Niagara River Greenway grant to complete the purchase and furnishing of 79 Canal St.
Beautiful Visions, a separate company by J. Fitzgerald Group partners Jack Martin and Carmel Cerullo-Beiter, would rent the building to Margo Bittner’s Appleton Creek Winery LLC as a satellite winery.
According to Martin, the Wine Emporium would sell all Niagara County-produced wines and a host of other locally grown and created goods.
His ambitious vision has the emporium serving both tourists and residents, jumpstarting redevelopment of the long-dormant Canal Street block and strengthening Niagara agribusiness all at once.
“In this kind of economy, it’s a good thing, instead of each business struggling to get by, we all help each other grow,” Martin said.
Everything’s still in concept stage but the gist, according to Martin and Bittner, is the emporium would sell wines and other products of members of the Niagara Wine Trail who rent shelf space. It could also sell locally produced food goods such as honey and jams; art, crafts, local gift baskets and tourism-related items such as T-shirts.
What exactly could be sold in addition to wine is still up in the air; Bittner’s company would get the liquor license, so wine may be sold and served on site, but the state liquor authority, in turn, limits what can be sold there. Fresh fruit and unpackaged/ready-to-eat food could not be sold, for instance, Martin said.
The emporium would capitalize on location — between Erie Canal Discovery Center and Lockport Underground Cave Tours/overlooking the Erie Canal locks — to both draw and serve visitors, according to Martin. The business plan calls for the emporium to refer visitors, “concierge style,” not just to the wineries along Niagara Wine Trail but also to tourist attractions and places of hospitality countywide.
J. Fitzgerald Group, a West Main Street-based advertising/marketing firm, would provide the publicity and promotions for the emporium, including a Web site where orders could be placed for all-Niagara County goods gift baskets.
“There’s a great need for this sort of thing,” Martin said of Niagara-centric marketing. For the city, he added, “I see it as a catalyst for Canal Street.”
The city is seeking a Niagara River Greenway grant on the premise the project fits a greenway goal of increasing access to and from local waterfront, in this case the canal and related attractions. Lockport is not in the Greenway area, but Niagara County gets $390,000 in greenway funding every year, as part of the 50-year deal Niagara Power Coalition struck with New York Power Authority in relicensing of the Niagara Power Project.
The city estimates it will cost $195,000 to buy and equip 79 Canal St. Beautiful Visions would kick in $95,000 and take the deed, which currently is held by the city/Greater Lockport Development Corp. The grant would cover the remainder of building purchase cost — GLDC offered to sell it for $115,000 — and interior build-out.
Martin won’t make a formal purchase offer until a decision is rendered on the grant request, he said Monday.
The grant is important to Niagara Wine Trail, group President Oscar Vizcarra said, because ultimately it decreases costs for members who want in on the emporium. If furnishing costs were folded into rent, the bill could be too high for members.
Mayor Michael Tucker vouched for the project in the grant application, writing in a support letter that the emporium would be the “stimulus to entice other businesses” to the Canal Street block. GLDC has showed 79 Canal to several prospective buyers but is holding them off in the hope Beautiful Visions goes for the purchase; it has “first dibs” at the moment, he said, because its proposal satisfies two GLDC goals — recruiting retail and increasing downtown’s tourist appeal.
“It’s important for us to get a business over there and get the ball rolling, but we’re much more concerned with what goes in than just filling it,” Tucker said. “This is a great project, by far the best one I’ve heard yet. It spurs investment in the city and helps the county as a whole at the same time.”
The Niagara River Greenway Commission is undertaking “consistency” review of 10 grant proposals now. Through April 30, members of the public are invited to comment on the proposals and how well they fit the greenway plan. The plan can be viewed at www.niagaragreenway.org; comments can be submitted at the Web site or mailed to the commission at 2136 W. Oakfield Road, Grand Island, NY 14072.
A county Legislature vetting committee also will look over the emporium request. Normally, according to legislator Andrea McNulty, D-North Tonawanda, the committee would refer the application to the greenway commission on merit, but because the application deadline was approaching in mid-March, legislators consented to let the city go to the commission first. The Legislature approves county greenway grants based partly on the commission’s recommendation.
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