BY PAUL MITCHELL
North Country This Week

CANTON – The Village of Canton is very close to finally taking ownership of the Midtown Plaza and its parking lot.

The village board is expected to approve a resolution Tuesday night to purchase six parcels at the 19 Miner Street property for $1,280,000. The special meeting will begin at 6 p.m. at the Canton Municipal Building, 60 Main St.

Mayor Michael Dalton said an agreement had been reached between the village and owner Garry Cohen, who owns five of the six parcels, and Vernon Green, owner of Green Furniture in the plaza.

“This has been a long time coming. The board has been working very hard over the past few years to make this happen,” Dalton stated. “The board is 100 percent behind it.”

Village officials will be negotiating loan terms with Community Bank, N.A. to purchase the properties.

“The Village of Canton has the opportunity to acquire real property, that has been determined will ultimately create jobs, provide needed infrastructure, and stimulate our local economy” the resolution reads. “For many years the Village has been working to redevelop an area commonly known as the Midtown Plaza, that is in a state of serious disrepair, and with the vision of SUNY Canton’s President, the Village throughout the years has applied for DRI and Restore New York funding that includes the 19 Miner Street properties.”

“The plan is to turn this dilapidated plaza, at the center of our downtown, into a mixed-use development offering diverse housing options and an Entrepreneurship Center that will anchor the project that will ignite innovation, spur the creation of new businesses, and ensure enduring economic and community growth, and the plan for the area has been well established and the anchor for the project, the SUNY Canton Entrepreneurship Center, has received approximately $4 million dollars to date.”

The plaza has sat empty since 2018 when Rite Aid closed its doors and opened a new store on East Main Street. The plaza’s largest tenant, the Jubilee supermarket, closed its doors in 2000.

The lone business open in the plaza is Green’s Furniture.

The village has applied for two separate Restore NY grants, $10 million and $2 million, to help pay for the cost of demolition and cleanup.