MASSENA -- The village has closed on the sale of the former Slavins building on the corner of Main and Water streets.

The property is now owned by Rickey Hamelin, running Downtown Massena LLC.

“Mr. Hamelin’s vision of a mixed use building with commercial and residential space will be an incredible addition to the downtown core. This structure is now on the tax rolls, and will become a vibrant part of the new Massena,” Mayor Tim Currier said in a news release. “The vision of the Village Board back in 2009 to save this structure for future development is coming to fruition because of the hard work of the Business Development Corporation, the Massena Downtown LLC and Mr. Hamelin. These public-private type partnerships used strategically to fit our plan, bring great benefit to our community and those wishing to invest here."

The former Slavin’s furniture store, which occupied nearly the entire block on Water Street from 1920 to 2000, was demolished in 2010 by order of the Village of Massena Board of Trustees.

In May 2013, the Village of Massena entered into an agreement with Downtown Massena LLC, which would work to find tenants and redevelop the property.

When Currier took office, he considered the Slavin’s building a priority and began to work with the Village’s Strategic Development Team and the Downtown Massena LLC to identify funding sources.

In September 2016, the Board of Trustees authorized the mayor to apply for the Restore New York Community Initiative funds, which garnered a $500,000 grant to convert the building into a mixed-use structure.