inLighten pulls plug on Lockport site

Business

March 29, 2010

By Joyce Miles Lockport Union-Sun & Journal The Lockport Union-Sun %26 Journal Mon Mar 29, 2010, 10:37 PM EDT

InLighten has crossed Lockport off its list of places for its headquarters, citing too many restrictions.

InLighten President and CEO Dan Snyder put it this way:

“Restrictions on development and use of (Canal Street) property just made it insufficient to meet our needs.” His statement was e-mailed to city officials and the Union-Sun & Journal.

The city has been waiting several months to find out if inLighten would buy four city-held buildings on Canal Street. The company approached Greater Lockport Development Corp. late last year with a proposal to buy them up for $100,000 total and invest $1.5 million in headquarters development. The company’s 75 existing employees would be moved and another 20 jobs created, according to GLDC documents.

Snyder’s statement did not elaborate on what “restrictions” rule out an inLighten relocation to Canal Street. Attorney David J. Saleh, inLighten vice president/project spokesman, did not return the US&J’s e-mail and phone requests for examples.

Mayor and GLDC President Michael Tucker said about the only restriction on Canal Street development he could think of is that inLighten couldn’t buy a large pavilion. That’s because it was built using state money, so it has to remain publicly owned.

Snyder’s brief statement served as official notice to the city that it’s no longer in the running to host the global digital media technology company.

Tucker was irked that the kiss-off came in an e-mail — especially since inLighten staff had been in the city March 19, touring Harrison Place to look over a section as a possible extra warehouse and manufacturing space.

“Not even a phone call, really?” Tucker said. “When we were (at inLighten) in November, they wanted to move in next week. ... I do feel they used us a little bit.”

GLDC hasn’t marketed the Canal Street block as available to other businesses since the inLighten proposal went public in December. At the time, Saleh had said Lockport was only one of a number of sites inLighten was looking at for relocation. After the company received GLDC’s terms for selling the property — including specific dollar investment and job creation commitments — communication between the two slowed.

In early March, Tucker instructed John Ottaviano, lawyer for the city and GLDC, to send a letter to inLighten requesting a clear a sign of interest, or disinterest, in the properties by the end of the month.

“The longer this went on, the more skeptical I was,” Tucker said. “Now we just move on. That’s it.”

For Ottaviano, who handled GLDC’s side of real estate negotiations, inLighten’s announcement “came as somewhat of a surprise. After the (Harrison Place) meeting, we had no indications they were unhappy about anything,” he said. “I really have no idea what prompted their decision. Maybe they got a better offer, I don’t know.”

GLDC may now hire Waterbourne Real Estate of Getzville to market the Canal Street properties.

The board of directors previously selected Waterbourne from a batch of requested proposals, almost two years ago, then decided not to contract with it. At the time, GLDC Executive Director William Evert said, GLDC was hearing from a number of local business people interested in developing 79 Canal St., and the board figured it wouldn’t need third-party marketing help to get the properties occupied.

None of the local proposals for 79 Canal panned out, however; and the board has since softened its stance that tenants/purchasers should be primarily retail and tourism-oriented.

Text Only

Business

Vendors sought for Canal Street market
Vendor applications are now available for the 2012 Lockport Community Market, an open-air market to be open Saturdays in July and August on Canal Street.

The goal of the market is to provide a venue for area businesses, farmers, merchants and artisans to showcase their wares, and show the depth and variety of Lockport's business community, according to organizer Heather Peck, program manager of Lockport Main Street Inc.

May 17, 2012
A matter of survival?
That mammoth electric generating station on Lake Road? It ain’t the cash cow it used to be.

The coal-fired power plant formerly known as AES Somerset faces liquidation if a proposed deal to recharge it, through investment, tax relief and payroll slashing, doesn’t pass muster with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.

April 19, 2012 1 Photo
Wishes granted
Nine established downtown-area businesses and six new businesses earned funds totalling $180,000 from the State Office of Community Renewal on Monday.

Mayor Michael Tucker, Sen. George Maziarz and Charles Bell of the Greater Lockport Development Corporation made the announcement in front of Micrographics at 36-B Main St. as several of the grant winners gathered and smiled in the breeze.

April 10, 2012 2 Photos
Rescuing the ruins
Greater Lockport Development Corporation will work with a local business that’s aiming to preserve historic industrial ruins downtown.

The GLDC board of directors this week approved a memorandum of agreement with Hydraulic Race Corporation, owner of the Lockport Cave and Underground Boat Ride tour, stating the agency will act as a “pass through” entity in the event HRC lands state grants to stabilize the Holly and Richmond Manufacturing ruins.

April 9, 2012 1 Photo
First Niagara gets into auto lending
First Niagara’s latest expansion is now into the indirect auto lending business.

The company announced Wednesday it will provide a variety of vehicle financing options through dealerships scattered throughout the northeast. More than 400 have already signed on and First Niagara expects that number to grow to 1,500 by 2014.

March 29, 2012
Claytown pieces available at Clarence pottery shop
Former Clay Town customers who left behind finished pottery pieces can still retrieve the pieces from a Clarence-based pottery shop.
Marie Sperrazza, owner of Clay Hands Pottery, 10086 Main St., Clarence, is holding upwards of 100 finished pieces by Clay Town customers who never retrieved them after the Robinson Road, Lockport, paint-your-own-pottery studio closed.

March 20, 2012
Unpaid billions
A growing chorus of bricks-and-mortar small businesses are protesting what they see as tax law inequities driving them to the brink by requiring they collect and remit sales taxes while their electronic counterparts prosper through tax-free goods and services.

October 24, 2011 4 Photos 2 Stories 1 Video 1 Link
Hoagie Brothers is back at Taste
Hoagie Brothers has some faithful followers. And the restaurant is hoping to see some of those followers on Sunday.
Duane and Sharon Behm of Lockport say they stop by the South Transit Road submarine and pizza shop frequently. They conservatively estimate about 10 trips a week to Hoagie Bros., not including the times they stop by with visitors. The Behms like to tell as many as possible to come by for a bite.
“We tell people all the time,” Duane said. “It’s excellent, the best subs.”

August 19, 2011
Good Karma
There’s a lot of good stuff at Cafe Karma, a new specialty sandwich and coffee shop now open on Main Street.
Located at 21 Main St. in the Lockview Plaza, the shop was formerly The Daily Grind, a coffee shop that had been there since it opened in 2006. Co-owners John Verbocy and Dennis Farley opened Cafe Karma about three weeks ago. So far the response has been good.
“It has been amazing,” Farley, a Newfane native, said.

March 4, 2011 1 Photo
Duffy headlining annual Chamber of Commerce gala
New York State Lieutenant Governor Robert Duffy will be the keynote speaker at the Niagara USA Chamber of Commerce’s annual Honors dinner next week.

February 18, 2011
More Business Headlines

Business

Search Results

inLighten pulls plug on Lockport site

Site Map

Contact Us