by David Flint
Town officials and business people in New Lebanon are coming together to establish a vision for improving the business district. Sparked by Lori Bashour, owner of the Midtown Mall across Route 22 from the New Lebanon Supermarket, a Midtown Mall Vision Committee has been formed.
Linda Hursa, proprietor of Angel’s Trumpet florist shop and Secretary/Treasurer of the Lebanon Valley Business Association (LVBA), points out that with 39,000 square feet, the Mall occupies a substantial
amount of space and is key to the appearance of the business district. Hursa has signed on as a member of the Vision Committee which also includes Lori Bashour and her business partner Adele Lee, Town Board members Monte Wasch and Karl Chittenden, Planning Board Member Trina Porte, a Mall tenant, Silke Fuchshofen representing the business consulting firm Organic Insights and Jack Yurish, LVBA member and prime mover behind New Lebanon’s Comprehensive Plan. Several of them attended an informational meeting last week in Albany about seeking grant money from the Restore New York initiative. Restore NY is a program of the Empire State Development Corporation designed to encourage economic development and neighborhood growth by providing municipalities with financial assistance for revitalization of commercial and residential properties. ESDC is making $150 million available for the third round of grants and soliciting proposals from municipalities for competitive review. The Vision Committee has been granted approval from the Town Board to send a letter to ESDC indicating the Town’s intent to apply for a grant. Final applications will be due on May 4, and awards will be announced later this spring. Hursa said the competition for this money is vast but she believes that what the Town is trying to do is a good fit with the intent of Restore New York. Everyone is on board with trying to make the main street in the business district more inviting so that new businesses will be attracted. The Committee, she said, is probably going to hire a professional to write the grant application.
Lori Bashour said she bought the mall property four years ago. She hired Kristin Knickerbocker to develop an architectural design for a new facade and a new parking lot design. Before that could be accomplished it became apparent that a malfunctioning septic system would have to be replaced. At great expense and following a process that had to be approved by the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), the septic system has now been rebuilt with a doubled capacity so that it can easily handle the mall with a full complement of tenants. Redoing the parking lot also has proved to be more complicated than expected as the handling of storm water run-off has dictated a completely re-engineered design with a lowered grade. That work is now just awaiting Transportation Department approval for curb cuts and storm drains.
Bashour said that if a grant is received from Restore New York it would have to be used for a specific project in Town with architectural and engineering plans that are ready to go. The project to improve the Midtown Mall is the only such project in Town that is ready to go. If a consultant is hired to write the grant application, the Mall owners will foot the cost. The Town would be the applicant and would receive the money, which they would then lend to the Midtown Mall owners. That money would be repaid to the Town with interest, and the Town could then use the principal and interest for other projects. The Town would also benefit as the property is improved and the tax base increases. Presumably the beautified mall would be fully leased with thriving stores thus increasing the amount of sales tax revenue coming to the Town. Bashour said that in applying for the grant it is important to demonstrate that the project will increase the economic base in the Town. She believes they can do this. Another criterion is that the project improve or expand a mix of office, residential and retail space because such a mix is considered crucial for economic stability and community vitality. Here again Bashour believes her project makes a good fit.
The Mall is currently anchored by Thruway Beverage on the left and NAPA Auto Parts on the right. In the center are a row of shops including Duncan’s Wine & Spirits shop, the Dead Ahead Cigar & Pipe Shop, the China City restaurant and Open MRI. On the upper level, which Bashour has renovated, is currently an office for Organic Insights and one residential apartment. Bashour hopes to fill the upper level with offices and several more apartments, depending on what codes will allow.
Bashour’s intent in forming the Committee was to get others in the Town involved in planning development not only for the centrally located Midtown Mall but for the business district as a whole. She felt it would benefit not only her own enterprise but the Town as a whole to have a vision for what sort of businesses
would complement each other. The driving force is what will attract people to come and shop in the Town. She would like to have some sort of destination site, perhaps in the Mall, whether it be an artists center, an agricultural attraction, say with a farmers’ market in the enlarged grassy area in the front or an historical attraction, perhaps related to the Shaker history in the area. She felt that before she proceeded with developing the Mall, she needed a business plan that would take into consideration the other businesses in the area. She is asking the question, “What can I put in here that will support the other stores and that will have them supporting us.” Businesses like Angel’s Trumpet, she said, would certainly like to have a destination business in the Mall, because once people stop somewhere, they tend to walk around and shop other stores as well. And she realizes that everyone would like to have the Mall be a more beautiful place with an appealing facade. Bashour wants to everyone to come together to help make it work.
Bashour is pleased with one of her newer tenants, the NAPA Auto Parts store, and said they appear to be happy in the Mall. Manager Jim Amuso said that Phil Moldoff brought the store to the Midtown Mall last June, adding it to three other NAPA stores he has in Nassau, Valatie and Hudson. For New Lebanon it replaces Raynor’s Auto Supply that was over on Tilden Road and closed down some years ago. Amuso said business has been “fantastic” ever since they opened, with a lot of support from the people in Town. Support is a two-way thing as Amuso demonstrated, putting his customers first, going out to a lady customer’s car to make sure he was finding the right light bulb for her and then going out again to install it for her. “If we don’t have it,” Amuso said, “we have two runs a day to our warehouse in Albany, or we can get it overnight from one of three other warehouses.”
Bashour lives in the Berkshires and has properties in West Stockbridge and Pittsfield. She formerly owned the Inn at the Shaker Mill in New Lebanon but sold it last year. Seeking a commercial venture a few years back, she spotted the strip mall for sale and saw potential in it. “I like to take things and improve them,” she said. She hadn’t foreseen the costs of dealing with the septic system and storm water, but now she is committed to seeing it through. Bashour said she has found the LVBA and other business in the area, as well as townspeople and the Town Board to be very supportive of one another. “It’s nice to be in a town with support like that,” she said.