From Preservation Online, the online magazine of the National Trust for Historic Preservation

www.preservationonline.org

UPDATE: Eckerds has demolished the Water Department building, but the Corning Market Street Restoration Society has worked closely with Eckerds to design a new store that will blend in with the downtown area.

Dear Preservation 911,

I spotted your magazine the other day and realized that activities in my hometown may warrant your attention.

Corning, N.Y., is a historically relevant and concerned community. Our restored downtown Market Street is a superb example of how old downtowns can be preserved and made to thrive despite the encroachment of malls, Wal-Mart and their unimaginative ilk. I live in one of the many existing homes built around 1890.

However, our town, home of Corning Inc., which has been particularly hammered by the international economic malaise, is having a budgetary crisis with no ready solution in sight.

So, when the fine corporation of Eckerds offered a very handsome sum to buy a hunk of property owned by the city's Water Department, the town jumped on it. Eckerds now owns it. No development has begun yet. Situated on this property is a long abandoned Water Dept building. I do not know the exact nature or condition of the building, other than that it is quite old and probably pretty beat. So beat (though it is totally enclosed and sturdy-looking) that I'm confident Eckerds will raze it so they can erect a boring, cookie-cutter building.

This land lies at one of the gateways to our community, so what building goes in here is of exceptional importance to us, especially since one of our community's most critical industries is tourism. As a proud lifelong citizen of our community I sincerely hope that through the combined efforts of organizations like yours and through the many concerned citizens sensitive to these issues, an effective solution will be deployed where all of us win economically and historically.

Thank you,

Paul Thomas
Director of Communications
Corning Area Chamber of Commerce

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