The once-popular Owego Treadway Inn conference center is about to become history as the complex is torn down for the construction of a grocery store.
About 150 people attended an auction on Saturday as equipment, furnishings and a wide array of items were put up for sale. Luke Kaczynski of Mead & Sons Auctioneers of Owego said 575 lots of merchandise were available. Bids were received for virtually everything that was part of the old banquet and meeting venue on Route 17C. Two elevators inside the building, along with chandeliers and pianos were sold.
The conference and banquet center hosted many wedding receptions, parties, meetings and other events in recent decades. Aldi plans to build a 19,631-square-foot store after the conference facility, bar and swimming pool have been demolished. The new building will be located near the Susquehanna River.
Aldi received approval to move forward with the project after the company submitted a report concluding it “will not result in any change in the floodplain elevation and that the proposed improvements have been designed to avoid impact to the floodway.” The store’s floor will be constructed one foot above the “base flood elevation” for the two-acre site. Entrances are to be “floodproofed” to two feet above flood elevation. A supermarket located further from the river sustained extensive damage as the result of the September 2011 flood.
Demolition work at the site is expected to start within the next two weeks. The store construction project is scheduled to take five to seven months to complete.
Aldi regional vice president Aaron Sumida has declined to comment on the Owego project.
