A former steel pipe manufacturing building in Etna, which has been idle for decades, has new life.
Real estate developer AM Group is planning to transform 51 Bridge St. into a nearly 90,000-square-foot hub for tech, R & D and AI.
The company and several local officials gathered at the site Thursday for a redevelopment kickoff ceremony.
"Enamored with the sense of community," AM Group's Scott Wolkowitz said of Etna. "The community behind the old steel mills, and now the community of what we can transform the building in. If there was one central theme from today, it's a lot more than just a real estate developer, the AM Group. The project cannot go forward without the support of every single person and every entity here."
Etna Mayor Thomas Rengers is hopeful the development will bring more businesses and young families to the area.
"In 21 years of being the mayor, this is probably the happiest day to see something that we'd stand and look at for so long just wondering what it could be," he said. "Now, the fact that we're actually looking at an empty building, now they can start filling it in a way that's going to be used for the next 50 or 100 years."
Developers anticipate tenants will start moving in by July 2022.
The project is partly funded by $1.6 million in Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program funds.