When
you think about the area around Lyell Avenue and State Street, you probably
don’t envision a thriving international district with Wi-Fi
coffeehouses and loft-style apartments. But that’s exactly the vision that
animates Mitch Rowe.
A
veteran City Hall employee, Rowe took his first plunge into commercial real
estate about two years ago when, along with his neighbor Tom LaBue, he bought the flatiron building at 3 Lyell Avenue from the city
for a thousand dollars.
Today,
the rehabbed building is home to the Flat Iron Cafรฉ. Sandwiched in between Lyell Avenue and Smith Street, the building
anchors what could become a significant city intersection.
If
that sounds like an overstatement, consider two of the biggest projects being
undertaken in the city: the construction of PaeTecPark and the
remaking of the Port of Rochester. True,
questions remain about both projects; the Rhinos are awaiting word on whether
the state will chip in $15 million to pay for key amenities. And though the
city has contracted with a Boston firm to
redesign riverfront land at the port, the ferry’s lackluster performance has
cast a pall over the resurgence of the area.
But
while these concerns are real, both developments are going to happen; it’s just
a question of how big and how successful they’ll be.
The
state Department of Transportation finished a massive repaving of Lake Avenue this year, in anticipation of a boost in traffic between the port
and downtown Rochester. Among the
improvements was the installation of flagstone crosswalks and iron street lamps
along the Lake Avenue-State Street corridor: the
same ones that that have been installed in Charlotte. These are
installed at key intersections, including the five-corners
area where the Flat Iron Cafรฉ is. The idea is that having similar elements as
part of the streetscape will help link together neighborhoods along the whole
corridor.
The flatiron
building’s renovationand the cafรฉ are emblematic of what
backers hope the area could become. It almost didn’t happen. In 1999 the city
moved to demolish the building, saying it was suffering from neglect and was
becoming a hazard.
Among
those who objected was John Lippa, now the president
of the Lyell Avenue Business Association (he was vice
president at the time). “We said, this was historic,” he recalls. “We didn’t
want that torn down.” The group went to the Landmark Society to research the
building’s history and bolster the case for saving it.
After
a couple of months, Lippa and others were able to
persuade the city to back off. Still, the building wasn’t exactly an asset to
the neighborhood. Businesses came and went, the most memorable being an adult
book store. And during that time the original entry, which faced the intersection
at the point of the building, remained cut off, a window, not a door.
After
Rowe and LaBue bought the building, among their
improvements was restoring the double doors that open out onto the five
corners.
The
changes they’ve made are welcomed by Lippa and others
in the neighborhood.
“We’re
very pleased with the appearance of the building,” Lippa
says. Lippa and Bob Seidel, a retired Empire State
College professor who was also active in the campaign to save the building,
believe it is a keystone for the area.
“A
lot of people see it going down the avenue,” Seidel says. Positive changes
there are a hopeful sign for the rest of the area, he says.
Rowe hasn’t
been the only person to recognize the neighborhood’s potential. There’s a slow but
steady flux of businesses opening or expanding in the area. In a small space in
the back of the flatiron building, a group of seniors from St. JohnFisherCollege, led by Mark Foti, are opening a comic-book store. Win Fa, an Asian market from a few blocks south, is reopening
in a larger space across the street. Deepak Marwaha,
who owns a cell-phone store next door, has bought a few more storefront
buildings from the city and plans to renovate them for retail space.
Bryce
and Doyle, a maker of upscale kitchen cabinetry, has bought another building to
use for a showroom.
Although
the pace of business activity hasn’t been conspicuous, it hasn’t escaped
notice, either.
“If
you walk in a two-block radius of that intersection, you encounter a whole lot
of businesses that you didn’t know existed until you walk there,” says Seidel.
Though
he tries to remain modest about it, Rowe clearly relishes the thought that his
project is acting as a catalyst for a comeback in the neighborhood. Instead of
spending a lot of money on the flatiron building, he and LaBue
did much of the restoration work themselves.
“Before
that, there were a lot of people who had written the area off and decided it
wasn’t worth investing in,” Rowe says. “I’d like to think that the interest
that Deepak and the others showed is connected to the fact that they saw two
people willing to roll up their sleeves.”
Marwaha says that’s a
fair assessment. Changing an adult bookstore to a coffeehouse is “definitely
changing the look and feel of the neighborhood,” he says, and that prompted him
to invest some sweat equity of his own.
“It
really comes down to the effort people put into the buildings,” he says.
Some
of the flurry of activity is also surely connected to the coming of the soccer
stadium.
“I
would’ve done this even if the stadium wasn’t going to be two blocks to the
west,” says Rowe. But he admits that’s not the case for everyone. “Properties
on Lyell have been bought up in the last 18 months
that probably wouldn’t have if the stadium wasn’t going there,” Rowe says.
Of course, the neighborhood
is more than just the five-corners intersection.
Despite the draw that PaeTecPark may provide,
a true revitalization will hinge on having a regular flow of people patronizing
retail outlets.
One
of the area’s advantages is that it already has a population base. Several
businesses have plants in the area. And a major non-profit group, the Center
for Disability Rights, is moving its headquarters from rented space a little to
the south into a building it has bought at Jay and State.
Chris
Hilderbrant, the Center’s director of advocacy, says
he hopes CDR’s newly renovated building can act as a
counter-balance to the stadium, an anchor for pedestrian traffic when there are
no soccer games.
“We
want to serve as a hub,” he says.
CDR
has been at its current location on State Street for six
years, says Hilderbrant. It’s outgrown that space,
but its leaders wanted to stay in the area, partly out of a conscious choice to
remain connected to the city, and partly because that section of State Street
has good access to bus routes, something critical to both staff members and
their clientele.
“The
move to that location is consistent with our commitment to the city,” says Hilderbrant. “Our organization has grown up in this area.
It’s a great location for us.”
The
cost of the renovations to CDR’s new building —
which include a power wash to remove 100 years of grime from the building’s
brick faรงade — is about $3 million, says to Hilderbrant.
When the organization moves in, it’ll have 60 fulltime staff members working
there, plus about 65 more who’ll split their time working there and elsewhere
for CDR.
Those
numbers make CDR’s project the second largest
investment in the area (after PaeTecPark), according
to their own reckoning.
Along
with the new building, the group also bought the adjacent storefronts that line
State Street, and though
they’re not part of the initial rehab, Hilderbrant
says CDR hopes that with some help from the city, they’ll eventually become an
important part of the neighborhood’s rebirth.
But reviving a
neighborhood takes more than just filling a few storefronts. Problems abound.
First there’s the area’s reputation.
“There’s
probably still a perception on the part of a lot of people that that area’s not
safe,” says Mitch Rowe. That perception is false, he says; he’s been at his
building working “at all hours of the day and night,” he says, without trouble.
In
addition to being thought of as generally a tough neighborhood, Lyell Avenue is known as a
red-light district. If the perception that the area is unsafe or unsavory
persists, people who otherwise might patronize coffeehouses and restaurants in
the area may take their business elsewhere.
Then
there’s parking. Unlike downtown or the East End, there are no
large municipal parking garages within easy walking distance from the five
corners. Even large lots can be difficult to find and are often off limits to
the public. What little parking is available is street side.
And
finally, the area suffers from a weaker form of the same problem that ails the HighFalls entertainment
district: lack of housing. Although there is some housing in the area, it’s
limited in the immediate neighborhood. For a critical mass of people to exist,
more housing, particularly for middle-income families and young professionals,
will need to become available.
For the first problem —
the area’s bad rap — help may be on the way. John Lippa
and Bob Seidel are both involved in the startup of a prostitution task force
that’s being put together. Working with the Rochester Police Department, NET
offices, the County Health Department, the County Human Services Department,
and representatives from the faith community, local residents and businesses
are hoping to clean up the illicit sex trade in the area.
“If
we can reduce the odium that’s attached to Lyell Avenue, that will
help,” says Seidel.
Parking
and housing remain more intractable obstacles, for now. CDR’s
new lot will be the biggest in the area. However, at least initially it won’t
be open to the public. Hilderbrant says that could
change.
“I
could foresee exploring that,” he says.
With
the coffee shop all but finished, Rowe and LaBue have
turned their attention to the second and third floors of the flatiron building,
which they plan to convert to loft-style apartments. Rowe is hoping the trend
of upscale lofts that’s spreading downtown will reach north toward his
neighborhood. One positive sign: Buckingham Properties’ current conversion of
the ArtcraftBuilding, not far to
the south, into lofts.
And
then there are a few bonuses, positives that many prospective business owners
or investors might not have counted on but will get anyway. One is Empire Zone
status; part of the city’s zone covers the five-corners
intersection, and businesses will be eligible for tax exemptions. (Longtime
observers will note with some irony that this is exactly the type of
revitalization the Empire Zone program was intended to boost when it was
begun.) The intersection also represents the northernmost edge of the CenterCity area in the
zoning ordinance. That means property owners have fewer restrictions about such
things as providing a minimum number of parking spaces.
Looking into
the future, it’s tough to tell what’s in store for the area around the five
corners. Lippa would like to see a design charrette as a start. But he’s also well aware that a lot
depends on the response from a BobDuffyCity Hall.
“We’ll
have to see how the new administration deals with this,” he says.
Plans
for at least one charrette — in nearby JonesPark — had been
in the works. The Interfaith Action organization had argued that it was immoral to spend
loads of public money on a new stadium while the needs of the poor in its
shadow went unmet. Deputy Community Development Commissioner Larry Stid had met with the group about its concerns, Rowe says. Stid died last month, however, and plans for the charrette are now up in the air.
Rowe
declines to speculate much about the area’s future growth. He mentions looking
forward to small changes like better signage for local businesses and getting
trees planted in empty tree grates. (That last wish seems to have been granted.
A City Newspaper photographer,
assigned to find an empty grate, couldn’t; all had recently been filled with
saplings.)
Rowe
does make one prediction, though.
“I
know for sure next year is going to be better than this year,” he said. “In
less than 10 years we’ll have full occupancy of all the retail space in that
area.”
Lippa puts it more
succinctly still:
“We’re
looking for a renewal,” he says.
This article appears in Dec 7-13, 2005.
