The city of Gloversville will receive $10 million as part of New York State’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative.
Gloversville was awarded the grant in the fifth round of the program. The award was announced Thursday inside the Glove Theater, an historic venue which is undergoing a renovation.
Brian Stratton, Director of the state Canal Corporation, traveled to the Fulton County city to make the announcement on behalf of Governor Kathy Hochul.
“Gloversville will be awarded a $10 million DRI grant.”
Stratton, a former mayor of Schenectady, made the visit to Gloversville before a scheduled stop in Little Falls to announce a similar award.
“They clearly have got dynamic plans for revitalizing their downtown. $10 million will be transformational,” said Stratton.
Gloversville Mayor Vince Desantis said the city had been applying for grants including the DRI since the program started in 2016. The $10 million DRI comes on top of $8 million in grants including planning grants geared toward revitalization projects in the last five years.
“This is where we’ve actually been able to move the needle. This is where we’ve actually been able to get major funding for major projects that have made a visible difference. And this is really the first year, 2021 is the first year when some of those projects actually became visible,” said Desantis.
An investment plan by the city is set to be finalized in the spring. Eighteen projects are to receive support through the DRI, including $1 million toward the Glove City lofts development, and $900,000 toward the Glove Theater.
Desantis, a Democrat who was recently re-elected, said the city is in a position to be transformed within the next two years from a former industrial town to a thriving city.
“It was well-worth the projects These projects are already off and running, even before the DRI was announced,” said Desantis.
Republican State Senator Jim Tedisco recalled visiting the Glove Theater six years ago, and remarked on the progress being made on the building. The former Schenectady city councilor said it reminded him of when Schenectady was discussing the future of the then-derelict Proctors Theater in the 1970s, which today attracts Broadway acts. The city council and Mayor Frank Duci, at the time, agreed to sell the building to a citizens group for one dollar.
“We said, ‘Well, we don’t have much business down here right now, we’re not going to have business down here unless something in terms of recreation and arts.’ And we gave them that one dollar. Well, that one dollar turned into a beautiful, magnificent theater out there. And this transformable grant is going to bring this to that beautiful standard also, I believe. $10 million will do a lot,” said Tedisco.
New York State Assemblyman Robert Smullen characterized his hometown of Gloversville as a prize fighter in its repeated applications for the award.
“I think this is going to be the thing that helps us turn the corner on what happened with the leather industry way back in the day, sort of thing. And it’s really a very positive thing for the community because it can be that spark plug that lights a lot of different things on fire. It’s going to prime the pump, it’s going to allow the city to really get back on its feet the way it should be,” said Smullen.
With President Joe Biden’s signature on the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law, Republican Smullen of the 118th district said he will advocate for tens of millions of dollars in federal funding to support infrastructure upgrades in Gloversville and other Mohawk Valley communities that have dealt with water main breaks and other problems in recent years.
“This is real infrastructure, its physical infrastructure, it’s really important stuff, and it’s at the end of its 100-year life cycle. And we’d like to get at replacing it a little bit at a time, starting now,” said Smullen.
