Clarence, N.Y. (WBEN) - Some monitoring the Eastern Hills Mall project may be nervous after hearing about a sewer update that will cost $30 million over the next decade. However, the town supervisor of Clarence seems confident the project will move forward.
Pat Casilio says he, Amherst and Uniland leaders are all looking at grants to fund a new sewer line running down Transit Road to the connector at Paradise. The Clarence Town Supervisor is hopeful the state will also award a grant.
"Matching funds would be a great start, but 100% funding, if all the businesses for a couple miles down Transit Road benefit from a larger sewer main," said Casilio in an interview with WBEN.
Casilio notes the total project could easily cost $1 billion by the time it's finished. This new sewer main would be roughly 3% of the total cost.
While he's confident the sewer problems can be worked out between Erie County, Amherst, Clarence, and New York State, Casilio knows the project will need a large investor to get things moving forward.
"Uniland is looking for new partners to make it happen, so hopefully, in the near future, it will find the proper people to work with to get this project off and running," Casilio said. "The Town of Clarence certainly doesn't want a Northtown-type situation where buildings are demolished and you have a wasteland of blacktop and stone. So nothing is going to move forward on the site until Uniland has a clear direction, clear plan how to move forward with an end result in mind."
Peter Hunt from Hunt Real Estate says it's concerning for anyone that had high hopes of redevelopment of these really tremendous locations.
"If you look at their location relative to the good things happening in both parts of the Towns of Amherst and Clarence, I'd be hard-pressed to say there's a better location, and the kind of mixed use village, walkable community concept that both developers are proposing," said Hunt with WBEN.
Hunt admits there are a number of issues that are getting in the way.
"There's existing leases that haven't run out, and tenants that don't want to move in spite of things. You've got zoning issues that the town has to deal with. And also, there's the issue of incentives," Hunt noted. "These things don't happen inexpensively, and, in almost every case, there's some kind of incentive package that developers will be seeking from the town or the state, or even the national government, [especially] if it's a historic site."
Hunt says these are huge and expensive projects already ongoing across the region.
"You've got massive parking lots that have to be changed. You're going to have to put roadways in. There's all kinds of infrastructure that you have to evaluate based upon the eventual desired usages." Hunt said.
He adds while it's disappointing projects like Eastern Hills Mall and the Boulevard Mall aren't moving as quickly as hoped, he doesn't see a quicker pace among other projects across the country.