Time File Photo

Renovation plans for the Woolworth Building in downtown Watertown have fallen through.

No Financing: Other uses pondered for old Woolworth building

The developer who has been hoping to restore the former Woolworth Building has determined that he won't be able to obtain bank financing to turn the Public Square landmark into a 100-room hotel.

Gary C. Beasley, executive director of Neighbors of Watertown, told members of Advantage Watertown on Thursday morning that developer Michael A. Treanor was unable to get a commercial lender for the project, noting "banks are not funding hotels," especially given the economy.

Calling it a "brainstorming session," Mr. Beasley, who has been working on the project as a consultant for historical tax credits, said Mr. Treanor and at least one of his partners will be in Watertown later this month to discuss possible "alternative uses" for the six-story structure. City officials also hope to talk to him about any new plans.

The developer hopes to convince state officials to let him use a $2.5 million Restore New York grant that was going to be used for the hotel conversion for the new idea, Mr. Beasley said. The project was also relying on historical tax credits, a mechanism to attract investors.

After hearing the news, Mayor Jeffrey E. Graham said he wasn't surprised the hotel plan wasn't proceeding because "it didn't make sense."

At the meeting later this month, Mr. Beasley said, he, the developer and others plan to meet with an investment team from the National Development Council, which has worked on previous projects with Neighbors, to discuss alternative uses for the landmark, the second store in the famous national retail chain.

On Nov. 10, city officials and local business leaders toured the building to get a look at its condition. That same day, Mr. Treanor, who purchased it for $475,000 three years ago, said he was going to focus on the project's financing because he was nearly finished with a hotel project in Cape Vincent.

Plans for the Woolworth Building had called for 20 hotel rooms on each floor, banquet facilities and possibly restaurants in storefronts on the ground floor. Mr. Treanor had originally looked at converting the building into apartments, but determined that would not work financially, since it would yield only 30 to 35 units and the layout was more conducive for a hotel. The mayor had been a proponent of going that route as recent as the Nov. 10 meeting.

The building has sat vacant in recent years after its last tenant, Re-sale America, was forced to move because of deteriorating conditions.