By Rob Potter
LIBERTY — January 2, 2001 – The new year could bring a new retail store to the Village of Liberty.
At a public hearing next week, the village planning board is expected to review and possibly approve the plans and State Environmental Quality Review forms of Triangle Development Corporation for the removal of the former Sullivan’s Department Store and construction of a new retail store building at that same location. The village planning board is the lead agency for the project.
While Triangle Development Corporation – which owns the Ames Plaza in Liberty – has built shopping centers around the Northeast, the new business at the Sullivan’s site is slated to be just one store.
“It’s our understanding that it is going to be a retail store, most likely a food chain store,” said Glenn Smith, whose Monticello-based consulting engineering firm was hired by Triangle Development Corporation. “The new building would be about the same size as Sullivan’s.”
Smith added that the store would encompass about 55,000 square feet. A new parking area, to accommodate 300 parking spaces, would be created, and the bank behind the proposed building might be landscaped to create more room.
Beyond that, however, details are still sketchy.
“There has been no final approval for anything,” Village of Liberty Code Enforcement Officer Charles Irace said last Friday.
If and when a new facility is constructed, it would fill a void that was left when Sullivan’s closed its doors six years ago. The popular department store, which first began operation just down the street in 1948, was open at its present location on County Route 17 (Sullivan Avenue) from 1954 until 1994. During its heyday, Sullivan’s was the largest and best known store of its kind in the county – and even featured a satellite location at the old Orange Plaza in Middletown.
Former Sullivan’s proprietor Irving Shapiro of Liberty is not sure what exactly will become of that tract of land. But he noted that former Liberty area architect Seymour Seiler is one of the key people involved with Triangle Development Corporation, which is based in Rye Brook, NY.
“He’s an experienced developer, and his associates are fine people,” Shapiro said. “They are developers of shopping centers.”
Triangle Development officials could not be reached for comment.
“We might know more on the 11th,” Irace said.
The public hearing will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, January 11 at the Village of Liberty Municipal Building on North Main Street.