LEWISTON — Nearly 70 people packed Lewiston’s Red Brick Gymnasium Monday night to weigh in on Ellicott Development’s proposal to bring an Ace Hardware store to 780 Center St., with nearly 20 residents speaking against the project.
Monday night’s Lewiston Village Planning Board meeting was moved from its regular meeting room to the Red Brick Gymnasium to accommodate the additional residents who wanted to hear updates on Ellicott Development’s proposal for 780 Center St. Nearly 20 of them spoke against the project during a 40-minute comment period.
“When you trip over yourselves to accommodate a big box national chain store, you’re pulling the rug out from the existing business,” said resident Tim Henderson. “I’m not blaming the developer. They’re just doing what they do, but they don’t get to vote.”
Chief among most residential complaints was that the potential new store would harm the already existing Warren’s Village Hardware on Portage Road, which Bill Warren has run for the past 15 years. He himself spoke about how the village could instead use more quality housing.
“In Lewiston, we have a hardware store that is unbeatable,” said resident Ken Barnes. “They know what it takes to fix a house like mine, where my stable was built in 1838.”
Among the other complaints was one on how difficult it would be for semi-trucks carrying inventory to the store to navigate the building’s parking lot and hills. Another resident said that various Ellicott promises have gone unfulfilled over the years. The proposed site is also a few hundred feet away from St. Peter’s School along Onondaga Street, leading residents to point out that the semi-trucks making deliveries could get in the way of buses picking up and dropping off students.
Neil Garfinkel, owner of the Sgt. Pepper’s Hot Sauce store, even claimed Ellicott does not want to work with small businesses after they never responded to his requests to rent from them.
It was first reported this past April that Ellicott Development, owners of the buildings at 760, 780, and 790 Center St., was looking to convert the 16,000-square-foot first floor of 780 Center St. into commercial space to accommodate Ace Hardware. The chain has 14 locations in the Buffalo-Niagara region, including Spalding Ace Hardware in Lockport and Gui’s Lumber in Niagara Falls, with more than 5,000 locations nationwide.
The building’s second floor has 11 residential units that are fully occupied, with developers previously looking to turn the lower floor into more apartment units. The village planning board gave Ellicott the go-ahead in February 2024 for the plan, but that redevelopment never happened due to financial reasons, according to Ellicott officials.
“At the end of the day, it’s going to cost me this, and I can only get so much in rent,” said Tom Fox, director of development for Ellicott Development. “It doesn’t matter how long the line of people I have for particular apartments.”
Developers already presented the new plans before the village planners in July, but they requested more information on whether the store would sell propane, how deliveries would work, what the parking would be like, and other building cosmetic changes.
In a letter sent to the village planning board that was made available at the meeting, Ellicott said its plans would no longer fill in the drive-thru space and instead be utilized for storage; they would agree to install previously agreed-upon landscaping and some sidewalks, and there would be propane sales. Fox also said for potential supply deliveries, smaller trucks would stop by three to four times a week while larger semi-trucks would be there at least once a week.
Fox later said that current apartment tenants at 780 Center St. have not raised concerns about living above a hardware store. He added there was no truth to them being against small businesses, citing how their Frontier House property previously housed Fairbanks restaurant.
“They’ve done their due diligence. They think that there’s a lot of business here,” Fox said. “It’s not so much about coming in and replacing another business in town … A rising tide (lifts) all ships that bring additional business to town. Maybe other locals get additional business from that.”
The village planning board ended up tabling a vote for its next meeting, waiting for further answers on items Ellicott Development has not yet addressed.
Fox said that redevelopment would take at least six months depending on when or if they get village approvals.