Housing proposals — including several on the east side of downtown — dominate the initial applications seeking funding from a $225 million state development fund.
The state has received at least nine applications so far for its Rochester-Monroe Transformation Initiative. Officials plan to announce the first awards before the end of the year.
Proposals include some new concepts, not previously made public, including:
- Conversion of the former RG&E headquarters on East Avenue into 87 workforce and market-rate apartments.
- Adding seven floors of apartments to One East Avenue at the corner of East Main Street.
- Building a total of 11 small but tall three- and four-story townhouse apartments over individual garages on vacant lots near The Strong National Museum of Play and, separately, School Without Walls.
- Redevelopment of the southeast corner of University Avenue and North Union Street, tearing down a former restaurant there and building a three-story, mixed-use building with 26 apartments on the upper floors.
"Housing is a critical infrastructure for a growing economy," Mayor Malik Evans wrote in a letter of support seeking funding to renovate the former RG&E building at 89 East Ave. "Across our region, employers consistently identify the shortage of quality housing as one of the most significant barriers to attracting and retaining talent."
WXXI News obtained the mayor's letters of support through an open records request, providing a glimpse into possible future development in and around downtown.
The $225 million in state funding adds to $75 million earmarked for the proposed High Falls State Park. Funding applications opened in July The money set aside in the state budget is intended to spur local economic development, and address public safety and infrastructure needs. Members of the state delegation have called for investments in neighborhoods and green spaces.
For Alexis Clemens, 34, who rents in the Wadsworth Square Neighborhood, green space is preferable to the proposed townhouses at Broadway and South Union Street.
"I mean, honestly, if you want to put in something good over here, a community garden would be cool," she said, describing a space more geared to adults than the playground down the street. "Adding more housing is not adding value to the people who already have home here."
Other projects for which Evans provided a letter of support include a proposal to revamp 691 St. Paul St., just north of Upper Falls Boulevard, into about 90 market-rate apartments with first-floor retail and office space.
That $24 million project, led by Genesee Valley Real Estate Co. LLC, is seeking $6 million from the state. Plans are to repurpose the hulking building that otherwise would be left vacant after Monroe County moves its Department of Human Services to the former Carestream Building on Verona Street in January.
"Prompt reinvestment will prevent a significant vacancy in an area already attracting substantial public and private investment," Evans wrote in a letter dated Oct. 5.
He noted the building's proximity to the planned High Falls State Park, and that affordable housing and a daycare are proposed for 690 St. Paul St. across the street.
Remaining letters backed the previously announced, mixed-use renovation of First Federal Plaza on East Main Street, the conversion of the former Richford Hotel on Chestnut Street into 86 apartments, and a long-stalled proposal to renovate and restore the former Monroe County Savings Bank at 35 State St. Also in the mix is a large-scale expansion of the NetCorps startup incubator to fill the entire sixth floor of downtown's Sibley Square.
Notably absent is a letter for any application supporting renovations to ESL Ballpark, which city and county government leaders previously identified as a priority project. The county was taking the lead on that application and did not immediately respond to questions about its status.
Evans, in his letters, refers to the importance of expanding housing choice. But none of the proposals include homeownership.
"There's definitely an appetite (for homeownership)," said Rob Gallina, a partner in Gallina Development. "I think it is critical to the health of a downtown. The challenge ... is the infrastructure of existing buildings is very difficult to segregate."
The local firm previously proposed condos as part of The Metropolitan, formerly Chase Tower, but ultimately stuck to apartments. Now Gallina is seeking assistance to convert the second through eighth floors of One East Avenue, on the opposite side of the former Midtown block, into predominately one-bedroom apartments for young professionals.
It's a similar market being targeted in repurposing of the former RG&E building — an iconic structure that Evans called "one of Rochester's most prominent vacant historic buildings." RG&E moved out in 2020.
Converting the century-old limestone and marble office building towering over the end of Gibbs Street requires "extraordinary rehabilitation and construction costs ... that cannot be addressed through private investment alone," the mayor wrote in an Aug. 11 letter to Empire State Development regional director Laura Fox O'Sullivan.
The mayor identified Landers Management as the developer, and CEO Peter Landers confirmed he submitted an application but did not offer further comment. Landers was behind the redevelopment of the Aqueduct campus that now houses Constellation Brands' headquarters.
