It was August 2005 when all of Sharon Springs turned out to welcome investors with plans of restoring a half-dozen of its historic—and dilapidated—hotels and mineral spas, a project with the potential to return the village to glory days.
Not until April 2007 did Sharon Springs Inc. return with architect’s drawings and specifics on what had by then grown to a $10 to $12 million project.
But a year-and-half later, Sharon is still waiting; not a single piece of paperwork has been filed for the project—which investors insist is still on the books.
“It sounds like it’s at a point where it may become a reality,” CT Male senior planner and consultant Chuck Voss told a gathering of Joint Planning Board members and the Village Board two weeks ago—and they all agreed.
“But we’re still waiting to see what’s going to come walking in the door,” Mr. Voss said.
“It sounds like they’re getting serious. All indications are that they’re ready to go...We’re just holding our breath. If they come in with two colored sketches, it’s not going to work.”
Representatives from Sharon Springs Inc., including architect Bill Bateman, who served on a task force formed in August ‘06 but has since moved to Hudson and is now working for the developers, sat down with the Joint Planning Board in October.
It was that session that prompted the November 20 meeting with CT Male.
“They don’t appear to have a good consultant up front who knows the [permitting, planning, and review] process,” Mr. Voss said. “You want this to be a win-win situation. But there’s no one like us on the other side of the table.”
CT Male was hired by the village to help guide the Joint Planning Board through the process once the project gets underway, essentially its eyes and ears, Mr. Voss said, in part because the project’s initial size and scope were overwhelming.
That sense of being overwhelmed hasn’t changed.
Trustee Doug Plummer recalled how, at the final Task Force meeting, SSI unveiled a new version of the project that called for two 11-story chrome and glass towers and a sign on the roof of the Adler that could be seen from the Thruway.
“I said, ‘Are you crazy?’ All those meetings and they didn’t hear a word of what we were saying.”
No one wants to throw a wet blanket on the project; Mr. Plummer said he’s excited by the possibility.
“But no matter how much we want it, there are forces beyond our control,” he said, things like zoning and state regulations governing everything from parking to asbestos removal.
In October, developers spoke of hopes to get something open by June 1.
That’s unlikely, Mr. Voss said.
“It’s hard to know what level of renovations are needed, but it sounds significant,” he said. “A project this size...You’re lucky to get the permits in 18 months.
SSI wasn’t at that pre-Thanksgiving meeting, but in a phone interview, Mr. Bateman said he’d be the first to admit they’d “had a few false starts.”
“I’m the architect now and a big part of my job is helping to integrate this into the local community.” Mr. Bateman said.
“We are going ahead with it. We’d hoped to have paperwork filed by December but it doesn’t look like that will happen now. You have to understand, a project this size takes a long time. It doesn’t just happen.”
SSI and its chairman, Kysung “Q” Quo, had planned to start with renovations to the Adler, Mr. Bateman said, but when Mayor Omer Cousineau asked about the possibility of reopening the Imperial Baths first, they took another look.
“Our concerns with opening the Imperial Baths first was that we didn’t want to do something mediocre that wouldn’t represent our real ideas. But we understand the Mayor’s concerns and said, ‘Let’s play with this.’
“Now we’re focusing—aggressively—on the Baths and the Adler’s on the back burner.”
Mr. Bateman said they’d hoped to have what they’re calling the Imperial Spa open by late spring, but it now looks like it’ll be later than that.
Renovations to the Baths are expected to run at least $6 to $7 million; he said; work at the Adler, $12 million.
The investors themselves are different from those initially involved, Mr. Bateman said, probably because they, too, realized how big it was.
Even though the economy has slowed progress on the project, Mr. Bateman said they’re “Still on track. I haven’t been told to do anything otherwise.”