In less than an hour, a Jamestown visitor can learn about several different projects that are all a part of revitalization efforts for the city.

On Friday, Thomas P. DiNapoli, state comptroller, visited Jamestown, going on a guided tour of the Jamestown Gateway Train Station. With the wings of the train station being part of the future National Comedy Center, Tom Benson, National Comedy Center chairman, led the tour with assistance from Sam Teresi, Jamestown mayor.

Through a big picture window facing south in the train station’s corridor, DiNapoli could see sections of the Greater Jamestown Riverwalk trail along the Chadakoin River. Teresi said with financial assistance from the state, the Riverwalk will one day allow someone to travel by foot or by bicycle from downtown Jamestown to Chautauqua Lake.

The mayor said in the future there will be pedestrian bridges crossing the Chadakoin River behind the train station that will allow for more ways to cross the waterway. He said there will be a groundbreaking ceremony for the bridges in the next few weeks. One bridge will connect the north shore extension of the Riverwalk with Panzarella Park, which is near the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities. The second bridge will connect the two sections of the Riverwalk, traveling along the Chadakoin River near the Warner Dam.

Through the same window, DiNapoli could also see the Comedy Center Park, which officially opened in July.

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The park features a stamped-concrete patio area directly behind the train station that has outdoor seating; a concrete stair system that will connect the park patio to street level on Second Street and a pathway that connects to Phase IV of the Greater Jamestown Riverwalk project.

There is a paved area and safety crossing along the railroad tracks – along with the inclusion of a special, rubberized surface that will allow pedestrians, including those who are handicapped, to safely cross the tracks. Benson said there are future plans to add an amphitheater to the park for live performances.

The next stop on the tour was the east wing of the train station, which is currently used as a reception hall, but will one day will be the location for interactive exhibits at the National Comedy Center. Benson said with funding from foundations and the state, they have been able to hire local business Clark Patterson Lee to be the lead architect for the project. Also, they have been able to hire world-renown creative firms Jack Rouse Associates and interactive specialist Local Projects to help design the comedy center.

Next week, comedy center officials will bid out the construction work for the foundation of the new area being built in front of the former Jamestown Board of Public Utilities substation building, Benson said. He added that next summer the wings of the train station will be retrofitted for the comedy center, with plans to open the national attraction by late spring of 2017.

While informing DiNapoli about the National Comedy Center, the sound of tools working to restore a former Jamestown Trolley Car could be heard. Teresi said two people Bob Johnston and Jim Mitchener have been working in the train station’s wing the last couple years to restore Jamestown Street Railway Trolley Car No. 93.

During the tour, city officials also discussed the $14 million renovation of the former Erie-Lackawanna Train Station. Teresi said there new plans to possibly create a railroad museum in the former engine barn located west of the train station.

After the tour, DiNapoli said he has heard a lot about the National Comedy Center project, with its connection to the Lucy Desi Center for Comedy and the Jamestown Gateway Train Station.

”To see it up close is quite different,” he said. ”It is a public/private partnership in the truest sense.”

City officials informed DiNapoli of more downtown revitalization projects while they walked from the Jamestown Municipal Building on East Third Street to the train station located on West Second Street. DiNapoli said the city is in the enviable position to be attracting new businesses to locate downtown while also getting more people living in new residential space in the city. He added many cities have difficulty attracting both businesses and people to relocate in downtown urban areas.

”Here you have both at the same time,” he said.

DiNapoli said it is important for him to visit cities throughout the state, like Jamestown, to be informed about projects in which the state has made an investment.

”It is helpful for me to see first-hand how the money has been spent,” he said.