There is a new development proposal for the old Ramada hotel and Wheels Up Tavern in Gates.
Syracuse-based Erie Materials is looking to expand its building materials business into the Rochester market. They want to demolish the long-vacant property on Brooks Avenue near Interstate 390 and build a new warehouse, office and showroom, records show.
“The current property ... is full of asbestos and is completely unusable,” Erie Materials wrote in its application seeking county tax breaks.
Site acquisition, demolition and cleanup are estimated to cost more than $6 million, the company wrote, noting that has dissuaded other developers from moving forward. Erie Materials wrote that they had been unable to find a suitable property in Rochester until finding this “ideal location.”
Officials have described the property as something as a gateway to both Rochester and Gates. Erie Materials' proposal signals that an earlier concept for restaurants, a new hotel, gas station and, possibly, housing, is dead.
The company is family owned and supplies materials for home remodeling and new construction, with a full range of products from roofing to doors and decking to gutters. In addition to Syracuse, the company has facilities in Utica, Albany, Binghamton, Elmira, Watertown, Auburn and Poughkeepsie.
Total project costs, including clean up, are estimated at $18.7 million. Erie Materials is seeking county tax breaks and state assistance.
