WHAT’S HAPPENING AT 124 MAIN?

PARKING LOT SOUGHT

ON FORMER TJ’S SITE

COOPERSTOWN – Foiled in an effort to build a four-story hotel where the former TJ’s Place is now, the new owners of the property have filed an application with the village Planning Board to put a parking lot at 124 Main St.

The project is listed on the Planning Board agenda for its 4:30 p.m. meeting Tuesday at 22 Main.

Tavis Austin, the village’s zoning enforcement officer, said engineer Jon McManus, representing BTP Partnership, the building’s owners, asked him to list the project on the agenda. As yet, Austin said, he hasn’t seen any particulars.

His understanding is that, for now, the partners are proposing a 30-space parking lot behind TJ’s, similar to the one proposed in connection with BTP’s plans for a four-story hotel, which was denied the required “special permit” by the Village Board in June.

However, the plans may be more extensive. “If I don’t see anything by Tuesday morning, I may pull it from the agenda,” Austin said.

Ted Hargrove, longtime owner of the property, sold it last year to the BTP group, which consists of Bob Hurley, who owns the local Subways; financier Tom Lagan, and Perry Ferrara, owner of the Heroes of Baseball Wax Museum and the adjacent Hardball Cafe.