SHERBURNE – Last week, the Town of Sherburne was awarded a million dollar grant for the Sherburne Inn Restoration Project.

The grant has doubled the amount the not-for–profit project has been able to raise since it was conceived in late 2012, bringing the total raised funds to more than $2.3 million. The amount represents donations and those promised by the state.

The Town of Sherburne, spearheaded by Supervisor Charles Mastro, acted as the lead agency for the grant at the request of the project's group of volunteer directors.

“The Town of Sherburne is extremely grateful for being awarded the grant and is excited about how this funding will change Sherburne’s downtown historic district,” said Mastro. “On behalf of myself and the Sherburne Town Board, we congratulate Save The Sherburne Inn Restoration Project and extend sincere thanks to the Restore New York program.”

The grant puts the prospect of restoring the inn within the realm 2018 or 2019, with serious discussions about renting out its facility to a private hospitality firm within the year, said Kathleen M. Yasas, president of the Save The Sherburne Inn Restoration Project.

She cautioned that such long-term plans were tentative however, and at present the group was focused on securing the awarded funds and finishing the physical restoration of the 100-year-old building.

“There’s going to be some exciting activity on the anchor corner of Sherburne in the coming months,” said Yasas. “In bottom line numbers, this means that restoration project will have at its disposal $1.6 million to proceed with the project,” she said, referring to immediately available funds for 2018 work.

The newest awarded grant will help restoration of the interior of the building, which includes the west-side elevator.