The End of an Era at the Crete Civic Center

The Crete Memorial Civic Center in Plattsburgh has for the past 50 years been a venue for everything from concerts to trade shows, and in more recent years indoor youth sports.  But now, work is underway to demolish the civic center, after the mayor and the city have decided that renovating the dilapidated building was simply too costly. 

Decades of deferred maintenance eventually caught up with the Crete, making it too expensive to operate, and after an electrical fire last year, the building was closed for good. 

Crews with Ritter & Paratore Contracting from Utica have been tasked with tearing the building down.  

The city of Plattsburgh will use funds received from the American Rescue Plan Act to cover the cost of the demolition, about $385-thousand dollars. 

And the Mayor says while the future of the site is still unknown, possibilities include expanding the green space, adding waterfront dining, or other options that were included in a waterfront feasibility study from back in 2016 that looked at finding new uses for the area around City Beach. 

The contractor says it’ll take about 3 months to get the entire building torn down and that the demolition should be wrapped up by the end of the summer.