Chicken and egg scenario

The board of directors for the Watertown Industrial Center Local Development Corp. finds itself in a familiar position for nonprofit development agencies – is it build it and they will come or attract them and then build it?

The center’s board voted to put a new roof on Building A, the most-used building in the center at 800 Starbuck Ave., out to bid. But the members still aren’t sure where the money will come for the project, which would cost between $1 million and $1.3 million, depending on the type of roof used.

The problem is the largest tenant, Brookfield Renewable Power, has a lease that runs out in November. They pay about $120,000 per year for rent, a major piece of the center’s income.

“If you spend all this money and they leave, you don’t have anything,” said member John Doldo Jr.

He and other members agreed it’s critical to keep the anchor tenant in the building. But they recognize that without a new roof, other tenants will also leave as leases expire and it will be difficult to refill the spaces.

“It’s a chicken and an egg thing – if you don’t fix the roof, you lose the tenant anyway,” member J. Paul Morgan said.

The center has $850,000 in funds from outside sources for the project, with several more outstanding applications. $200,000 loans from the Jefferson County Local Development Corp. and Watertown Local Development Corp., a $200,000 grant from the Jefferson County corporation and a $250,000 grant from the state Empire State Development Corp.

The county corporation is a sub-organization of Jefferson County Industrial Development Agency and the Watertown corporation is also known as the Watertown Trust.

“If you get down the road and run into cash flow problems, who’s the bank in this deal?” Mr. Jordan said. “It’s the Trust and the IDA. They’ll work with us, I believe.”