From left, Rachel Tabelski, Genessee County Economic Development Center, and Vince DeJoy, Jamestown development director, during the Center for Creative Land Recycling’s Third Annual Redevelopment Summit held at Sage Collage of Albany in June. DeJoy, a featured summit speaker, discussed Jamestown’s involvement in the state’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative program. Submitted photo

Two hundred and fifty redevelopment thought leaders from across the state convened for the Center for Creative Land Recycling’s Third annual Redevelopment Summit that was held at Sage College of Albany June 13 and 14.

Kathy Sheehan, mayor of Albany; Venetia Lannon, deputy secretary for the environment; and Kisha Santiago-Martinez, deputy secretary of state, welcomed the participants at the summit. Public and private-sector experts spoke on panels delivering essential information on state and federal programs that could be used to redevelop distressed and abandoned properties into economic development and job-creating opportunities. Participants learned about the new BUILD Act, Department of Environmental Conservation’s Solid Waste and Brownfield regulations, Opportunity Zones and how recent changes to the Brownfield Opportunity Area policies could impact their projects and communities.

The summit featured four communities that successfully converted development funds as part of their Brownfield Opportunity Area to win $10 million in Downtown Revitalization Initiative grants, including Batavia, Jamaica, Jamestown and Oswego.

Vince DeJoy, Jamestown Director of Development, spoke about how Jamestown is working to transform itself through the strategic use of these investments.

“Jamestown’s planning efforts through the BOA helped to better define the DRI target area and the right projects to include in the Strategic Investment Plan which resulted in $10 million from New York state that leveraged over $50 million in private capital to get these priority projects off the ground,” said DeJoy.