The Village of Schoharie got its first real look at Hazeem Elbialy’s plans for the old Great American site, 4.5 acres across Main Street from his Schoharie Dental Tuesday:
A two-phase project that begins with a two-story 30,000 square-foot health care building space and four two- and three-story residential buildings with a total of 46 apartments.
Phase two would be a two-story, 8,200 square-foot wing on the health care building with retail space, Crawford Associates engineer Chris Knox said.
Once it’s built, Schoharie Dental, where just this February, Dr. Elbialy finally got the Planning Board’s OK for a long-awaited expansion, will be repurposed as a day care center and nursery school, he said.
Dr. Elbialy said he’d like to break ground on phase one in 2025 or the spring of 2026 with the apartment construction to follow.
“The design is something we hope…responds to the type of residential buildings in the area,” said architect Brian Messana of Messana O’Rorke.
Because the Great American site is in a flood zone, it would have to be raised 4-6 feet.
The buildings would use about 20 percent of the property; the project would also include a playground, benches, gardens, and spots for outdoor recreation and sports.
Because the project includes the Schoharie Dental site, Dr. Elbialy is seeking to have the site rezoned as a Planned Development Area—a question the Village Board will decide after getting recommendations from the Planning Board.
After that, site plan review would be up to the Planning Board.
Public Works Superintendent Ken Bernhardt said there’s sufficient water and sewer capacity for the plans; if the project moves ahead, the first step would be demolishing the remnants of existing buildings.
Village Board members were thrilled with what they saw.
“Thank you for blending it into the neighborhood feel. This is very lovely,” Mayor Henry said after the group watched a short “concept” video on the project.
The Planning Board will begin reviewing the project at their meeting Tuesday.