Plans for Apollo Plaza

County takes possession with great plans

By FRITZ MAYER

MONTICELLO, NY — County officials are constantly looking for ways to bring new jobs to the area, and now they have a property that might prove to be a seductive lure.

At a meeting at the government center on November 12, it was announced that after a years-long litigation effort, Sullivan County had finally taken title to the dilapidated and abandoned Apollo Plaza shopping center on lower Broadway in Monticello.

County officials decided the property was too good to simply toss away into the auction process, and have started on a course to try to use the property to help boost the county’s economy.

County chairman Jonathan Rouis said, “This is a unique property in that it is already zoned for commercial purposes, and has water and sewer readily accessible. Rather than simply selling this property, I’d like to see the county develop it, with the assistance of our economic development agencies, into a mixed-use property that increases our tax base, brings additional sales tax revenues and provides affordable housing alternatives, as well.”

Rouis has tagged three agencies responsible for promoting growth to be involved in developing the plan: the Sullivan County Partnership for Economic Development, the Sullivan County Visitors Association and the Sullivan County Industrial Development Agency.

Marissa Brett, vice president of the Hudson Valley Economic Development Corporation, spoke at the meeting and explained her agency’s efforts to develop a property called the Winston Farm in Saugerties into a shovel-ready site to attract a high-tech manufacturing company, which would be involved in the production of photovoltaics, semiconductors or other high-tech products. This will likely be one area that will be considered as the county decides how to take advantage of the Apollo.

Rouis said, “These agencies will be working in the days and weeks ahead to develop a strategy for how to market this property to developers and other interested parties. We look forward to hearing back from them by the end of December.”