Roadblock: Stateway Plaza owners holding up improvements at shopping malls
“As the property owners have ignored the city’s latest offer, eminent domain may be Watertown’s only option for obtaining the land necessary to develop a connector road through Stateway Plaza.
Officials have long wanted to link Arsenal Street to Gaffney Drive with a road through the parking lot in the strip mall. Motorists often use Stateway Plaza as a shortcut, something that may not be advisable given the condition of the parking lot. If the city developed and maintained a connector road there for motorists to use, this would make for a safer traffic flow.
What makes the idea better is that developer Patrick M. Donegan, Alexandria Bay, said a big-box retailer has expressed interest in opening a facility in the adjacent City Center Plaza if the connector road is developed. “Plans would call for a 100,000-square-foot store in the 18-acre plaza, which also includes hotels, restaurants and retail shops he owns off Arsenal Street,” according to a story Saturday in the Watertown Daily Times.
The city offered Stateway Plaza owners Martin Wenger and Ben Wygodny, both of Montreal, $345,000 for the roughly 2 ½ acres of land needed to complete the connector road. City Council members agreed on a deadline of June 6 to hear back from Mr. Wenger and Mr. Wygodny before initiating eminent domain proceedings.”
Watertown Daily News 1 July 2014.