Restore New York award saves historic hotel
The historic Flanagan Hotel was sold back to Stone Mountain Prime at foreclosure auction a month before it received a $2.1 million award from Restore New York and the promise of additional funding to complete its renovations. The village of Malone will administer the $2,164,751 award that was announced by Governor David Paterson, which is part of Empire State Development’s $153.6 million Restore New York Communities Initiative.
Fire had gutted the hotel in 1997. After it was abandoned by its owner, it remained boarded up and empty for nearly 10 years before a developer decided to clean it up. Frank Cositore and UICC Holdings LLC spent millions of dollars to clean up asbestos; remove ash, soot, sodden furniture and debris; and reinforce the floor with steel beams. Then the group’s banks failed during the United States mortgage crisis, and work had to stop two years ago. When promised funding did not arrive, the hotel was sold at foreclosure auction on August 5. There was a 30-day window during which the loan could be repaid by the development group.
Cositore continues to seek funding to buy the hotel back, pay off liens and hammer out a work schedule. Whether his funding comes through or the foreclosure bank takes care of it, though, he is happy that the Flanagan Hotel will get rebuilt.
For the full story, go to Watertown Daily Times.
