Fire crews on the scene of the fire that took place at the former Hideaway Bay restaurant in Silver Creek in January. P-J file photo

SILVER CREEK — The redevelopment of Hideaway Bay will continue to move forward following a fire at the abandoned former lakeside restaurant last month. Gina Paradis, Chautauqua County Land Bank Corp. executive director, told The Post-Journal the county Land Bank board discussed the redevelopment of Hideaway Bay during its regular monthly meeting earlier this month.

Paradis said there are three “serious” parties interested in the redevelopment of the property. She said Land Bank officials have “tweaked” an old request for proposal application that will be sent to the three interested parties and other developers who have shown interest in the former restaurant property. She said the deadline for proposals will be March 21.

“At that point, we will take a look at the proposals and select a developer who has the best plan for the site,” she said.

Following the Jan. 11 fire, Paradis said there was good news from the state Department of Environmental Conservation on how much of the property could be redeveloped. She said redevelopers will be able to use the whole footprint of the original foundation of the former restaurant.

“This was a huge win because the DEC could have told us that we needed to be behind the coastal zoneline, which went through where the middle of the former building was located,” she said. “The reason we didn’t demolish the former building initially was so we could utilize the whole footprint. If we had demolished it, the acreage could have been cut in half of what could of been redeveloped. We meet with the DEC and talked through what happened following the (fire).”

The blaze remains under investigation by the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office’s Fire Investigations division. Because of the DEC’s decision, Paradise said a potential redeveloper will have 3.8 acres to use for redevelopment instead of just 1.8.

“It would have been half the parcel, so we are very excited for the redevelopment at this point,” she said. “We have enthusiastic and capable developers.”

Last month, a fire at the former Hideaway Bay burned down most of the former restaurant.

Hideaway Bay has been vacant for years and was purchased by the Chautauqua County Land Bank.

Last year, land bank officials changed course on how it was trying to market the redevelopment of the property. Instead of sending out request for proposals to potential developers, Land Bank officials posted the property on commercial real estate web sites. In 2018, land bank officials had sent out request for proposals to area developers, but they didn’t receive any quality offers.

In 2017, land bank officials worked with LaBella Associates to create a conceptual site plan for possible redevelopment uses of the property. In 2016, the land bank agreed to acquire the rundown property where Hideaway Bay restaurant used to be located after it was originally set for the county tax foreclosure auction.

In other Land Bank business, Paradis said they will be operating two lead housing abatement programs. She said the Land Bank will be able to operate the lead abatements with funding it received from the state Attorney General’s Office.

“We’re going to do demonstration projects to do lead abatement and track the expenses and outcomes, and try to redevelop the properties,” she said. “One is an abandoned house in Jamestown that we are hoping to remarket once we’re done with the lead abatement. The other is a house in Brocton. It’s a multi-unit house that we are hoping to resale to one of the tenants that lives there. We wanted to make sure it was abated before transferring the property. We are looking to do more (lead abatement) in the future, so we want to do demonstration projects to look at the cost benefit analysis and to look at the outcomes. We want to do our part to create more health housing opportunities in the county.”