CAMILLUS  —  A developer based in Skaneateles is setting up surgery for the long-vacant former Camillus Cutlery Co. plant at 52-54 Genesee St. in Camillus.

Sweet Spot Development, based at 3895 Fennell St. in Skaneateles, wants to transform part of the shuttered knife factory into a mixed-use medical center that would include medical-wellness office space and second-floor apartments. The renovated center will be called Camillus Mills, and tenants could begin moving in during the summer or fall of 2013, if all goes according to plan.

“This is the most prominent set of buildings in probably the entire town, certainly in the village,” says Roy Brunner, executive vice president of Sweet Spot Cos. “It makes sense. This is not a speculative venture.”

Sweet Spot purchased the former factory, which has been shut down since 2007, for $231,000. It closed on the acquisition at the end of May after agreeing to the deal at a real-estate auction in October 2011.

Plans call for renovating the 45,000-square-foot former Camillus Cutlery world headquarters building, turning about 5,000 square feet into one- and two-bedroom apartments. The building’s remaining 40,000 square feet would be dedicated to medical-office space.

However, Sweet Spot does not expect to salvage nearly 90,000 square feet of factory buildings running along the edge of Nine Mile Creek. Those structures, which were added onto repeatedly over the years, bounce between various floor levels and even dip below the floodplain at one point, Brunner says.

So the developer plans to demolish the buildings along the creek, bring the ground up to a level grade, and replace the structures with parking and green space. Then it will look at building all-new structures along the creek in a potential future phase of construction.

That future phase is still not certain to take place, though. For the time being, Sweet Spot is focused on finding tenants and investors for the 45,000-square-foot building and demolishing the facilities along the creek.

The developer estimates construction costs will tally about $8.8 million. It plans to finance the work through private investment from the building’s future medical tenants, bank financing, and a $2.5 million Restore New York grant.

About $150,000 of the Restore New York grant went to renovate a building across the street from Camillus Mills at 55 Genesee St., which now houses Krabby Kirk’s Saloon, Brunner says. The remainder is reserved for Camillus Mills itself. Sweet Spot is weighing financing offers from different banks and looking for medical tenants who are interested in investing in the project, according to Brunner.

The developer has yet to select a construction manager, although it hopes to put out a request for proposals within a few weeks, he adds. Jill E. Fudo, Architect of Auburn is the project’s architect. Argus Engineering, PLLC of Syracuse will handle electrical, mechanical, and plumbing design. TDK Engineering Associates, P.C. of Camillus will evaluate environmental and site work.

The project site has some environmental issues, Brunner says. It is a brownfield site, so Sweet Spot is filing paperwork with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). It hopes to receive DEC approval for a cleanup plan by the middle of November at the latest, according to Brunner.

“Once we get that approval, we will start remediation work here and in the other building,” he says, standing in the 45,000-square-foot structure slated for renovation. “There were some heavy metals, distillates, petroleum products, and so forth that came off the manufacturing process.”

Environmental remediation will be followed by crews replacing Camillus Mills’ roof. Workers will also put in new windows that match the building’s character, Brunner says. That will create a dry envelope in which interior construction can take place over the winter, he adds.

“One of the big advantages here in this building is that it’s structurally sound,” he says. “It’s all concrete-masonry construction. We’re not going to have any structural work involved, other than [an entrance] bump out with an elevator.”

Sweet Spot Development acquired the Camillus Cutlery property at an auction after working toward buying it for several years, Brunner says. Sweet Spot principal Tom Blair started looking at the property in 2009, writing the $2.5 million Restore New York grant application that year, Brunner says.

But issues like environmental surveys and easements kept Sweet Spot from reaching a deal to purchase the property, according to Brunner. Finally, in 2011, the factory’s owner, Texas–based Green Leaf Holdings I LLC, opted to put the property up for auction with Higgenbotham Auctioneers International, LTD., Inc. of Florida. 

Sweet Spot won that auction for $210,000, according to Brunner. Auction fees pushed the total purchase price to $231,000.

The Skaneateles developer employs three full-time workers and three part-time workers. Brunner declined to discuss Sweet Spot’s revenue.

He also decided not to disclose the name of two medical practices that have agreed to open in Camillus Mills. Brunner says only that they are “well-established, multi-office practices.”       

Contact Seltzer at rseltzer@cnybj.com