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Officials have high hope for Artistic Plaza Revival

By Jeff Murray
Star-Gazette
April 14, 2001

Economic development officials hope to revive the pnce-bustng Artistic Plaza in Elmira now that its only tenant plans to become the new anchor for the next phase of development at Trinity industrial Park.

Northeast Data Services is the last remnant of business activity at the Lake Street plaza in Elmira. By August the company will abandon that site to located in the new Trinity building in Elmira planned by Buffalo developer Peter Krog.

Northeast Data Services provides the only activity in the 142,000-square foot facility that once was home to major department stores, restaurants and other businesses.

It wont stay empty for long if economic planners have their way, said George Miner, president of Southern Tier Economic Growth.

“It’s on the market and it has been for lease or for sale.” Miner said. “We’ve shown it a couple of times. It shows very well. There are a couple (of businesses) still interested in it.”

It’s two decent-sized boxes, so it can easily be separated,” he said. “Artistic made it all flow together. It has been 300 parking spaces and sits on 12 acres.”

Artistic Direct, formerly Artistic Greetings, took over the plaza in the early 1900’s. The company invested heavily in renovating the space in 1995. Artistic Direct was later bought out by Taylor Corp., a direct-mail merchandiser that moved most of the business to its Minnesota headquarters.

Northeast Data Services, an affiliate of the Taylor Corp. remained at the Artistic Plaza, employing 50 people and occupying about 18,000 square feet.

The Artistic Site is owned by Strathmont Properties which also owns the Komer Center on Main Street in downtown Elmira. The asking price is $1.6 million.

The site is being marketed by Pyramid Brokerage Co., the same firm that is promoting the Chemung County Commerce Center (formerly the Horseheads A&P plant), among several other local properties

Pyramid is marketing site for light manufacturing, Pyramid Associate Broker Michael Manzari said. If a large anchor tenant can be landed, it might also revert back to its previous retail use, he said.

The plaza has several things going for it, Manzari said.

“It’s a good buy considering the renovations that went into it in 1995. It’s in excellent shape.” Manzari said. “It’s a really nice facility. We’ve actually had some showing s on it from our of the area and also locally. There’s enough interest where people are doing more research on the facility.

“This isn’t deteriorating at all. You walk in and it’s in great shape.”

“It’s a good buy considering the renovations that went into it in 1995. It’s in excellent shape.”
Michael Manzari, Pyramid Associate Broker

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