The Hurley Bros. building on Station Street is seen here on Tuesday. (Enterprise photo — Sydney Emerson)

LAKE PLACID — The town of North Elba applied for a $280,000 grant last month that, if received, would partially fund four new housing units on Station Street in Lake Placid.

The proposed housing would be located at the former Hurley Bros. building at 268 Station St. Approximately 42% of the two-story building would remain office and storage space, while the rest would be converted into two one-bedroom apartments and two two-bedroom apartments, according to building owner and project developer Bill Hurley.

Hurley told the North Elba Town Council at its May 20 Restore NY public hearing that the apartments would be “four long-term rental units, not Airbnbs,” and would not be income-restricted. He predicted that the one-bedrooms would rent for $900 a month and the two-bedrooms for around $1,200.

The Restore New York Communities Initiative is administered through Empire State Development and is intended to adapt existing structures to new uses. Only municipalities are eligible to apply for the grant, though they may apply on behalf of a non-municipal subrecipient like Hurley. North Elba previously applied for a $700,000 Restore NY grant with Dual Development, the group that owns the Cambria Hotel, to convert the streetside portion of the former Quality Inn into workforce housing. That project was not awarded a grant.

At the May 20 public hearing, Hurley said that he received a quote of $540,000 for the total project cost. The Restore NY grant, which maxes out at $70,000 per unit, would cover about 51% of the project cost. Hurley would cover the other 49%. The building is about 105 years old, Hurley said, and a few exterior changes would have to be made to convert it into living spaces. Namely, a new entrance would have to be created on the right-hand side of the building, facing the Lake Placid-North Elba Historical Society, and he’d have to add more windows.

Hurley said that he’s “not 100%” on the project. If the grant doesn’t come through, or if circumstances change between grant submission and receipt, the project may not happen. He told the town board that he was concerned his mixed feelings on the project would prevent the town from applying for and receiving future grants.

“We’re thankful you raised your hand and are doing something like this,” Supervisor Derek Doty said.

The town-village Building and Planning Department has not yet received plans for the project. Applications for Restore NY were due two weeks ago. There is no timeline for applicants to hear back from Empire State Development, but the last round of Restore NY notified applicants of awards about four months after they applied. If this round follows a similar timeline, North Elba will find out if it’s been awarded the grant in the fall.

No members of the public were in attendance at the public hearing, though Lake Placid Trustee Jackie Kelly and Lake Placid Economic Development Director Adam DeSantis both expressed approval of the project as residents of the town.

“The need for more housing has been well-documented,” DeSantis said. “I think this is a great adaptive reuse of one of our existing buildings.”