A massive Amazon facility along Manitou Road in Gates is expected to open late summer or early fall.
But town officials say it already is sparking new housing development on a scale the town has not seen in years.
“This project, if it doesn't eclipse, very closely eclipses what's been done over the last five years,” said Kurt Rappazzo, the town’s highway superintendent and public works director.
Whitestone Development wants to build 380 market-rate apartments, 27 cottage-style rental houses, and 58 single-family homes. Construction would be done in phases on 85 acres behind the Italian American Community Center and abutting Buffalo Road.
Stand at the end of Frank Dimino Way, which dead ends into the property, and you can see the Amazon facility through a clearing, across the field.
“Oh yes we can,” Town Supervisor Cosmo Giunta said, seeing the vista for the first time. Then he laughed. “It’s a nice view."
The Amazon facility is expected to bring more than 1,000 jobs when it opens later this year.
Separately, Amazon is re-evaluating a smaller facility just over the town border on Shepard Road in Ogden, county officials said. The company is looking for a different internal use or to lease the building as it adjusts its post-pandemic business plans. Both sites received tax breaks tied to job creation. County officials aren’t worried, as quality, ready-to-occupy warehouse space is in high demand locally.
“When Whitestone came to us initially, they were attracted by all the employees that are going to be at this Amazon facility,” Rappazzo said.
The developer did not immediately respond to reporter questions about the project.
Whitestone had a hand in the Apex student housing at RIT, Edgewater apartments in Henrietta and Tower 280 in downtown Rochester.
The property in Gates "has been on the books to be developed for a long time,” Rappazzo said, never set aside for open space or preserved. “And the time has come.”
Construction would occur in phases over three years, or more. And then? There aren’t any other large undeveloped parts of Gates left.
“This is basically it,” Rappazzo said.
“There might be smaller parcels around town that may be developable for single family homes,” Giunta added. “But yeah.”
The project, which has raised neighbor concerns about traffic, is awaiting final town approvals.
Housing construction in Monroe County is not keeping up with demand, particularly when it comes to market rate and starter homes, officials said. What housing is being built is mostly high-end houses or large-scale affordable apartment projects where tax breaks and other incentives are available.
For some perspective, recent housing development in Gates includes Doud Apartment Homes totaling 158 units, The Villas at Coldwater with 170 units, and Parkview Place, 112 units. There is nothing larger than 50 units going back almost a decade.
