Lyndonville backs project that would add café, hotel and retail store on Main Street
File photo: Lyndonville native Robert Smith wants to turn this block on Main Street, including the Webber Building at left, into a café, hotel and retail shops.
LYNDONVILLE – The Village of Lyndonville Planning Board has approved the site plan to turn vacant Main Street structures into a café, a six-room hotel and retail shops.
The Planning Board voted on July 18 to approve the site plan for the project, which is headed by Robert Smith, a Lyndonville native who works as a financial advisor in California.
He has plans to restore a c.1899 historic block on Main Street. He owns about 18,000 square feet of space in buildings that used to be a restaurant, super market, ice cream shop and other thriving businesses.
But the sites are vacant now and many of the windows are boarded up.
This rendering by Wolfe Architecture in Honeoye Falls shows the changes planned for the Webber building at 15 South Main St.
Smith will replace windows so they aren’t mismatched, and make other façade improvements, including new steps and doors. The project is in line with the Western Orleans Comprehensive Plan’s goal of renovating downtown storefronts consistent with historic character, planners said.
Smith lives in Palm Springs, Calif. He returns to Lyndonville to see family. On a visit about a year to see his mother he noticed the boarded up section of Main Street. He is tackling the project to help his hometown. He also thinks the project will be a financial success.
