BY JIMMY LAWTON
North Country This Week
A presentation expected at a St. Lawrence County Services Committee Monday, May 16, regarding Ogdensburg’s former Shade Roller site was apparently canceled at the request of Ogdensburg City Manager for unspecified reasons.
Andrea Smith was scheduled to give the presentation, but county officials said they received notice from Smith that she was instructed by the City Manager Stephen Jellie to cancel the presentation.
Further details about the cancellation were not available.
However, the city recently accepted a bid to clean up the site at a cost of $240,000.
Located at 541 Covington Street, 7.76-acre parcel is one of three adjacent to the Diamond Site that the city has long hoped to develop.
The city had expressed interest in partnering with the county on the clean up as the county has been successful in working with the state to remediate contaminated properties for the last several years. However no discussion on the matter took place.
Cleaning up prime waterfront properties on the St. Lawrence River has been a goal of the city for decades.
The city was recently successful in remediating the former Diamond National property.
Last year the city accepted a proposal from Blue Water Properties LLC, for a $100 million development proposal of that site, however no updates have been given publicly regarding the status of that project in 2022.
While the company is based in Atlanta, Ga., Scott Mattison, who is the lead on the project, grew up in Ogdensburg.
The mixed-use development was to include a 180-boat slip marina with fuel sales and a 20,000 square foot boat cold storage building with vertical storage for those interested.
For residential housing, a total of 40, four-bedroom condominiums of approximately 3,800 square feet each would be built, along with 80 total two-bedroom condominiums with 1,800 square feet each.
A clubhouse overlooking the St. Lawrence River, pools and a 100-room hotel was also included in the plans.
The project was expected to be phased in over three to five years for development.
The city received another proposal for the property as well, which may still be in play should Blue Water’s plans fall through, though the project was much smaller in scale.
That offer was from Paul Fowler, in partnership with Charles Caprara.
That proposal included a residential development composed of 50 units including duplex ranch units on the waterfront, and townhouses of two different sizes and price ranges on the upland portion of the sites.
Private docking would also be included for residents and visitors, with all common areas owned by a Homeowners Association. The full build of the project would be market driven and based on the number of units sold annually, with an estimated total project cost of $12 million, officials say.
