Will the plan to move RBTL’s proposed performing arts center to Main Street help revitalize Rochester’s downtown? It’s a question local urbanists are exploring. The new plan for the $250 million project would include a Broadway theater, a smaller theater, a hotel, and restaurant, retail, and residential development at the site currently occupied by the Riverside Hotel, which would be razed. The new project would be tied to the city’s ROC the Riverway initiative.
This hour, we sit down with urbanists who discuss the plan, as well as what else they think can help rust belt cities revitalize by using the resources of the Great Lakes. In studio:
- Peter Christensen, assistant professor of art history at the University of Rochester
- Marlana Zink, Rochester resident with a background in planning
- Howard Decker, board member for the Community Design Center Rochester
- Roger Brown, board member and creative consultants for the Community Design Center Rochester
