Emerson Place Redevelopment

Looking for a quality, affordable apartment? Live in the neighborhood and need help fixing up your home? Want help to buy your first home? Own rental housing and want to improve it? Come and talk to the Neighbors Of Watertown staff. Many resources are now available to help with your housing needs.

Apply at

Neighbors Of Watertown, Inc

The Housing & Redevelopment Store

112 Franklin Street

Watertown, NY 13601

(315) 782-8497

Emerson Place December 16, 2003

The Open House was well attended and a good time was had by all.

Watch the News 10 video clip











Thank You to everyone that made this day possible.



20-30 Emerson Place The Row House contains 10-3 bedroom and 1-4 bedroom apartments. All apartments have living room, dining room, kitchen, 1 1/2 baths, full basements and rear porch

707 State Street 1-3 bedroom and 2-1 bedroom apartments			For the many people who have asked, the color is Tavern Green.

135 State Place 3 bedroom single family home			This single family home has a shaded rear deck

647 State Street This is a beautiful 4 bedroom single family home with a garage.			111-113 & 115-117 State Place These two twins each contain 2-3 bedroom apartments. Each apartment is half a house with living room, dining room, kitchen, 3 bedrooms, bath with laundry hookups, full attic and basement.

626 Emerson Place This house contains a 2 bedroom lower apartment and a 1 bedroom upper apartment

A special congratulations and thanks to the NESNID Committee that made this Near East Side Neighborhood Redevelopment possible. Your commitment to take back your neighborhood is an example of what can be done by neighbors working together and is a model for the rest of the community.
The Development Team
	Owner Developer Architect General Contractor Investor Lender Secondary Lending Pre-Development Lending Streets, Site Clearance & Infrastructure Community Development Block Grant National Register of Historic Places nomination Neighborhood Preservation Co. Administrative Funding	Emerson Place Limited Partnership Neighbors Of Watertown, Inc. Crawford & Stearns Contech Building Systems The National Development Council Key Bank NA HSBC Bank NA / Federal Home Loan Bank Local Development Corporation of Watertown Development Authority of the North Country Watertown Savings Bank The City of Watertown The Governors Office for Small Cities NYS Office of Historic Preservation NYS Division of Housing & Community Renewal

7/22/03 Wow! Lots of activity on State Street at Emerson Place. The crews and subs of Contech Building are very busy under the very capable guidance of Mr. Roy Perry, shown with Rob Reddick, owner of Contech Building Systems.

The Emerson Place Row House is coming along steadily. Mechanical systems are installed, drywall is on and being taped, some apartments are being prepared for painting, windows have been restored and are ready for painting, porch slabs are poured and porches are being framed up.

(Click pictures to enlarge them)

The houses are coming along as well. 626 Emerson Place is ready for blacktop and it will be done. 135 State Place is also done except for the driveway and sidewalks. The two twins on State Place are also about complete. All of these will have carpet installed as the last thing because of the dust and dirt in the area.





135 State Place is nearing completion. Finish paint, front steps and front sidewalk will wrap this house up.

647 State Street and 707 State Street are progressing inside. The exterior work will pick up steam when the demos are completed by the city.




		It is amazing that anyone would have covered this detail with siding.

Speaking of demos, they are proceeding. 707 rear and 711 State Street are now down


Before	After
109 Emerson Place came down 7/23/03

Neighbors Of Watertown, management agent for Emerson Place L.P. is taking applications for the Emerson Place and scattered site rentals. These are beautiful, affordable apartments in a part of Watertown that is being transformed into a nice, safe, attractive neighborhood.

The residents and businesses in this neighborhood, known as The Near East Side Neighborhood Improvement District (NESNID), are working daily to return this neighborhood into the desirable area it used to be. The businesses along State Street and NESNID want you to know they are committed to this project and this neighborhood.

7/27/03 TV7 interview

Bulletin ! 9/25/2002

Emerson Place redevelopment begins.

According to Gary C. Beasley, Executive Director of Neighbors Of Watertown, the work on Emerson Place has begun. Contractors are now cleaning out the property and beginning the roof replacement. Work will commence steadily from now on with a closing expected on all financing and investor equity in early November. DANC and the Watertown Local Development Corp provided bridge financing that allowed acquisition of the properties and the roof work to commence before winter.

Demolition of vacant properties by the Watertown DPW is expected to begin soon.

The equity investment is the last piece in the complex financing necessary to carry out the comprehensive neighborhood revitalization project.

Key Bank National Association will be providing the construction financing and the permanent mortgage.

Emerson Place Redevelopment

In researching the history of Emerson Place for the National Register nomination we came upon some interesting information. It turns out that the owner that had Emerson Place built was Carson C. Peck who is linked in history to another historic property, the Woolworth Building. Mr. Peck made his fortune as the Vice President and Treasurer of the F. W. Woolworth Co.

Following are excerpts of articles from the Watertown Daily Times.

"Jan. 4, 1890 when Mr. Peck came to Brooklyn marked the beginning of the final epoch in the commercial career of the two young merchants. The stores opened in Brooklyn and Manhattan boomed from the beginning. As vice president and treasurer of the corporation, Carson C. Peck devoted himself to the management of the business, while Frank W Woolworth guided the general business policy. The combination was commercially unbeatable. Today there are more than 800 Five and Ten Cent stores under the red and gold signs of the FW Woolworth company in the United States and Canada, with a gross sales of $65,000,000 last year." (date of this article is April 30, 1915)
Carson Peck attended St. Lawrence University.
At 28 Carson went to work for Woolworth in Utica. After the first year Mr. Woolworth was so impressed with the store he asked Carson to come to New York to help him.
Carson's grandfather was a solder in the war of 1812

Other interesting information of Mr. Peck:

Clara Sargent Peck - wife
2 children - Clara S. and Fremont W.
Past president of the Oxford club when it merged with the University club
Member: Riding and Driving club, Long Island Automobile Club, Montauk club, Allenhurst club at Allenhurst NJ, Hardware club and the Beta Theta Pi Fraternity.
Member of the Clinton Avenue Congregational Church
Summer home in Allenhurst NJ
President & owner of the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railroad in Maine.
Director in Lawyers' Title and Trust Company
Owner Brooklyn Times

Mr. Peck was buried at Brookside Cemetary in April 1915.

The historic Emerson Place Row House is located in the heart of NESNID.

The redevelopment plan being packaged by Neighbors Of Watertown, Inc. centers around restoration of the historic row house. The interior and exterior of the structure will be rebuilt and prominent front porches installed once again. The dwelling units will be returned to quality family housing.

Emerson Place is a 1901 era row house on the city's East Side. The property contains 11 dwelling units and 1.92 acres of land. Over the years the neighborhood has filled in around this site with overly dense development, many absentee owned.

This postcard is circa 1915

The street accessing the site and the neighboring State Place will be reconstructed. Some selective demolition in the neighborhood may occur to thin out the heavy density. This will also provide side yards to the rehabilitated properties that remain and create a nicer residential atmosphere.

This is an illustration of the neighborhood

This draft scenario illustrates what the neighborhood could look like

Following are pictures of the historic row house and surrounding neighborhood.

If any information or historical pictures are available on Emerson Place, please contact

Gary @ Neighbors Of Watertown.

Telephone (315) 782-8497 Fax (315) 782-0102
Postal address: 112 Franklin Street Watertown, NY 13601
Electronic mail: information@neighborsofwatertown.com
Website designed & maintained by Gary Beasley
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