JAMESTOWN – Two local realtors are teaming up to help renovate a piece of neglected property in the city – and local officials are hoping the effort will inspire other property owners and investors as well. Chautauqua County Legislator and Jamestown Resident Lori Cornell invited local media to her neighborhood to help draw attention to local developers Garry Proctor and Andrew Jarrett – who say they’ve purchased the rental property at 16 Dewey Pl. in hopes of renovating it and making it a home that can be purchased by a local family.
“First and foremost we want to get it back to its original beauty,” Proctor said. “We want to do the rehab outside, give it a lot of curb appeal, and bring it up to the standard of the this neighborhood. It’s fallen in disrepair for the past ten years or so and we want to get it back to where it was.”
“We want to get it back into an owner-occupant status as well, instead of a rental property to keep the neighborhood congruent,” Jarrett added.
Cornell said she felt that attention should be drawn to the investment being made by both Proctor and Jarrett so that it not only shows that people in Jamestown are willing to invest their own money to improve the local housing stock, but also so that it may inspire others to invest in similar projects. Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi was also on hand, and congratulated the investors and the residents of the neighborhood for being proactive in addressing the issue of the only vacant residence on the street.
“I’m here today more to pay tribute to and to recognize the concern and the work of the folks on this street who are taking charge, showing concern and becoming part of the solution as opposed to gripping about what government should be doing or what government is doing wrong,” Teresi said. “They’re actually taking the bull by the horns and getting involved with it, and that’s what’s making the difference here.”
Also in attendance was Peter Lombardi, Director of Neighborhood Initiatives for the Jamestown Renaissance Corporation. He said JRC supports the Dewey Place model of neighborhood reinvestment, whereby neighbors help ensure that the properties find stable new owners. He called the Dewey Place project a “proactive model that can be replicated on many other streets in Jamestown.” No public money is being used in the renovation project. Both investors say once the project is complete and they find a buyer, they hope to move forward and find another property to improve in the city.
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