Village of Cattaraugus wins $10 million Downtown Revitalization award

By RICK MILLER

OLEAN STAR

CATTARAUGUS — The Village of Cattaraugus won the lottery!

Village officials were notified by Gov. Kathy Hochul this week that the village was the recipient of a transformative $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant.

Tom Cullen of the Historic Cattaraugus Corporation, Mayor Anthony Nagel and community development director James Vignali spoke Thursday about what the grant means to the village of 1,000.

Cullen, a Cattaraugus native who returned home from Chicago where he was an entrepreneur in 2018, is director of the St. Bonaventure University Entrepreneurship Center, and founder of Rocketcup Coffee, with coffee shops in Olean and Cattaraugus.

“We’re very grateful to Gov. Kathy Hochul and to all who helped us submit the winning Downtown Revitalization project,” said Cullen.

“The state recognized there is a solid foundation in place here and this money is going to do some good,” Cullen said. “There is a sense of place here, something we’re trying to build on. Another huge resource is that we have a team in place – the bank, Historic Cattaraugus, the village and other nonprofits. The state will assign a project manager to assist the community in the next steps of refining the list of proposed projects.

The large level space on the north side of the railroad tracks that used to be a Bush Industries factory has been cleared and will be called One Main. It will have an expanded farmers market and buildings for artists, entrepreneurs and others who can’t afford a storefront. There will also be a place for outdoor music and other activities.

Later this spring, Revolution Rail Co., plans to start a rail bike operation on a 3 ½-mile section of the old Erie Railroad that runs north from Cattaraugus. There is reason to believe the rail bike experience will draw upwards of 5,000 people a season — from spring through fall

The Cattaraugus County Legislature and Industrial Development Agency have invested in the venture. Trees needed to be cleared from the unused tracks and some r repairs made from washouts along the tracks.

Visitors will want to relax afterward — get a bite to eat or a cup of coffee. Cullen’s flagship Rocketcup Coffee Shop is just down Main Street from the tracks. There’s also a roastery where they roast the coffee beans and a speakeasy downstairs open Friday through Sunday. There’s also a patio outside the speakeasy.

Across the street is the American Cutlery Museum, a tribute to the area’s deep history in cutlery and knife making.

Five new businesses have opened in the village in the past year, the mayor said. There seems to be some momentum, which has been bolstered by the news of the $10 million Downtown Revitalization grant. “We’ve got five years from yesterday (Wednesday) to get it done.”

Another important part of the grant is housing. One proposed plan was a mixed use project is at the Community Cares Center on Front Street, which would include apartments in part of the old factory building. The old Cattaraugus School is another possible housing project.

“I’m excited,” said Nagel, who like Cullen is a local ex-pat who returned to Cattaraugus. He now owns Pritchard’s Hardware. “We’ve got the right people in place and the team is committed to try to do the best for the community.”

For Cullen, the announcement of the grant was an emotional time. He and many others invested a lot of time in laying the groundwork — not the least his late father and his sister Colleen Cullen Young, the bank president and head of Historic Cattaraugus Corporation — in developing the proposals for the Downtown Revitalization plan.

“It’s kind of emotional, but there’s also a sense of responsibility,” Cullen said. “We are the people we’ve been waiting for” to get together and help save the village.

Cullen’s late father, Patrick Cullen, was president of the Bank of Cattaraugus, local historian and someone who believed the brick buildings that line the steep section of Main Street were worth saving.

The historic Crawford House, once a bustling hotel in the railroad town, is the crown jewel of Main Street. The building, owned by Historic Cattaraugus Corporation, has received some preservation grants, More may come from the Downtown Revitalization Initiative.

While the proposed projects have been vetted by the public, additional public meetings will be scheduled to get public input on how best to proceed.

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