[UPDATED AND REVISED 04/07/2017] Probably the biggest development news this year is the future of Parcel 5.  City officials have picked a plan that calls for a 3000-seat theater for the Rochester Broadway Theatre League’s shows, with a 150-unit apartment building on top of it .
RBTL has pursued a new downtown theater for decades, but has been unable to overcome concerns from government officials and the public over its construction and operational funding. The organization has a $25 million commitment for the theater from Paychex founder Tom Golisano, but it’s not yet clear where the rest of the funding will come from.
Morgan Communities will handle the apartment portion of the project. The company has  a substantial portfolio of housing developments in downtown and the Greater Rochester area.
The other major downtown project is the replacement of a mile stretch of the Inner Loop between Monroe Avenue and Charlotte Street. If you’ve been over that way, you’ve seen that the transformation, even without development, is striking.
City Council should approve the Inner Loop projects soon. They are: 49 units of affordable housing by Home Leasing; 117 units of market-rate housing and street-level retail by a Morgan/Christa development partnership; and a large expansion of The Strong National Museum of Play. The expansion includes a 201-unit market-rate housing project and a hotel.
The downtown housing boom continues. The DHD Ventures project at 88 Elm Street should open for occupancy this year with 36 high-end apartments, first-floor retail, new headquarters space for DHD, and a wraparound balcony on the top floor. Designs show a modern-looking building with a lot of glass.
Another DHD project is The Residences at the Columbus Building at 50 Chestnut Street in the East End with 60 new apartments, upgrades to 23 existing apartments, a new health club, and a large entertainment space. Fun fact with this one: a 1,000-seat theater was discovered during renovations to the building.
Heidi Zimmer-Meyer, president of the Downtown Development Corporation, says that floors 17 and 18 of The Metropolitan should open this year, and the former Chase Bank is being renovated for apartments, condominiums, and office space. The two floors mentioned by Zimmer-Meyer will contain 14 apartments each.
The Sibley Building is one of the most recognizable buildings downtown and indelibly linked to Rochester’s history. It brings back memories of downtown as a former business and shopping mecca. The building, which has been renamed “Sibley Square,” is being renovated for offices, retail and restaurant space, and residential.
The residential portion will be split into The Lofts at Sibley and The Residences at Sibley — the latter is for adults age 55 and older. Pre-leasing for the 72-unit senior community will begin in May. Construction on the 104 luxury apartments should be completed by the end of the year, with pre-leasing also to start in May.
MCC’s lease at Sibley ends this year, and the college will move into a former Kodak property on State Street.
The much-talked about high-tech business incubator and accelerator will move to its permanent space on Sibley’s sixth floor in the fall. High Tech Rochester is currently in temporary space in the building.
An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated when High Tech Rochester plans to move its incubator and accelerator. The organization says the move is planned for the fall.
This article has also been updated with new information regarding Parcel 5.
Related Stories
This article appears in Mar 29 – Apr 4, 2017.
“…the proposal would leave a prime development site stay mostly vacant.”
The above statement really casts not building on this site as a negative. It’s not vacant it’s full of people and small businesses.
The rendering of the Gallina proposal shows how choked off the space will become and instead of the social and entrepreneurial center of Rochester, it becomes the front and back yard for two high income towers. Visionary Square would increase property values and attract business that would add to our tax base in less concrete ways than building a building. Look at what Campus Meritus did for Detroit.
Visionary Square requires us to think outside of the box. The Gallina Building could be anywhere. There are lots of vacant parcels nearby. But Visionary Square can only be on Parcel 5 to be successful. It has to be in the center of town. You can’t un-build a building, but we can give Visionary Square a chance. Otherwise we forego a real opportunity to transform Rochester into a destinaton… Somewhere people WANT to live and work in!
There is no chance there will ever be a park downtown when the city can stick in more INSANELY overpriced apartments for the super rich as just outside of downtown literally rots.
“… the proposal would leave a prime development site stay mostly vacant.”
YES! That’s exactly the point!
I’m not sure City understands that the goal is to create, in downtown Rochester, a place where people WANT TO BE, not endlessly monetizing every square inch of the center city. Doing so creates a harsh. overbuilt environment that people can’t wait to leave at 5:00 PM.
For half a century, Rochester has created a downtown as gritty as Manhattan, yet lacking the wonderful public spaces found in that city. We keep building concrete silos that announce, “Isn’t this a powerful thing we’ve created? Enjoy the view, but you’re not welcome here!” Our center city is in need of places for people, not just cars and corporations. That’s what makes a city come alive. Our downtown has been dead for too long. It’s time to breathe some life into it. The Visionary Square proposal will do exactly that.
If downtown is just begging for “space for people” then why isn’t MLK Jr. park constantly crowded? We have parks that no one uses, we need people that actually live downtown which these “overpriced” residences provide. I put overpriced in quotes because when you do the math with what some of these places come with in terms of amenities, they aren’t really overpriced at all, and the vacancy rates at all these new buildings bear that out.
So nice to see the downtown area attempting to be livable with amenities. Mid to high dollar housing brings expendable dollars to support retail, dining and entertainment. In my opinion, a city center is not the place for subsidized housing.
Plenty of space for that outside the loop with access to transportation. Kudos rochester for finally moving forward with proper use of the downtown!