OBSERVER photo by Gregory Bacon The Jamestown Board of Public Utilities purchased 133 Winsor St., 251 Harrison St. and 289 Harrison St., Jamestown from the Young Men’s Christian Association of Jamestown for $150,000. The BPU will market the property for industrial development.

Since the YMCA has decided to partner with Jamestown Community College for a new facility, the land it previously secured for a new building has been sold.

According to records at the Chautauqua County Clerk’s Office, the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities has purchased 133 Winsor St., 251 Harrison St. and 289 Harrison St., Jamestown from the Young Men’s Christian Association of Jamestown for $150,000.

The YMCA acquired that land in 2021 from the Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency, buying it so it could build at that time a $26 million facility.

That project stalled and the YMCA ended up partnering with Jamestown Community College and the college was looking to expand its sports facilities.

Since they no longer needed the property, the BPU decided to purchase it from them, with plans to market it for future industries.

“Our objective is just totally to work with the city administration to see if we can promote that for further development in the city,” Ellen Ditonto, BPU business development coordinator, explained. “Our motive is to get that back on the tax rolls.”

Ditonto noted that as industries are looking to relocate back to the United States, the city administration is targeting manufacturing for development.

At this point, Ditonto said it’s too early to name any possible manufacturer who might be interested in that property. “We are just starting to work with the city. The city has a new economic development coordinator and the development officer and we want to work with them to see what they think is the best aspect of going out and marketing,” she said.

BPU Communications Coordinator Becky Robbins said around 2006 there had been talk about BPU buying that property, moving their operations center there and building a new plant at their current site. However those plans never materialized and there are no plans at this time for such a proposal.

Ditanto said since the YMCA is not going to be using the property, the BPU’s goal is to get a for-profit entity located there. “One of the focuses of my job is how can we develop and bring developers here that are looking to bring either new manufacturers or bring commercial entities to the city,” she said.

Ditanto said the property is classified as a brownfield, but she believes there are a number of tax incentives and would work well for manufacturing. “That property has a lot of good aspects. It’s on a street that is easy for trucks to get to. It has had past manufacturing history, so it would be a good one for us to try to develop,” she said.