Downtown in holding pattern

Poised and positive to move forward when lending turns back on

Before Syracuse knew America was engulfed in an all out world financial melt down, the Downtown Committee’s Inside January 2008 newsletter’s centerfold featured 10 development projects.

1. In ‘n Out and Kirk Hotel buildings- $400,000 in Restore NY funds; total cost $1.46 million
2. Chamberlin Building - $535,000 in City By City Funds; total cost $2.8 million
3. Witherall Building - $888,000 in City By City Funds; total $4.7 million
4. Wilson Building - $1.227 million in City By City Funds; total $6.5 million
5. Bond Building - $350,000 in City By City Funds; total $1.8 million
6. Butler Building - $600,000 in Restore NY Funds; total $2.04 million
7. Label Shopper Building - $1 million in Restore NY funds; total $3.2 million
8. Syracuse Trust Building - $250,000 in Restore NY funds; total $1.2 million
9. Manufacturer’s Hanover Building - $102,000 in Restore NY funds; total $408,700
10.Dey’s Centennial Plaza - $2 million in Restore NY funds; total $14.9 million


These total more than $6 million in funding already received for 10 projects totaling nearly $40,000 million.

Where do these projects stand today?
Harvard educated, Dave Mankiewicz, is the executive director of the Downtown Committee. He said for these projects to go ahead, it was necessary to receive some funding from the state, which they did. But with the retreat of the private financial markets – where the rest of the money was coming from – there has been a delay in construction.

“People in good faith had projects ready to go, but even personal financing went on hold,” he said.
The local banks were least effected by the banking crisis, as these didn’t have the run up with real estate, but these banks don’t normally fund projects of this scope and size of the downtown 10.

Three of the 10 downtown buildings are Witheralls, Chamberlain and Bond. These are owned and being developed by Metropolitan Development Foundation properties, which is a for-profit offshoot of the not-for-profit Metropolitan Development Association. Let’s back up and note that the Downtown Committee, which is appointed by the mayor of Syracuse with 12 of the 15 members being downtown property owners, is a not-for-profit under the MDA’s umbrella, too. And Mankiewicz is also a senior vice president of the MDA.

Downtown at the heart - resurrection
Put Witheralls, Chamberlain and Bond together with the Wilson Building, which is being developed by Adapt CNY (a not-for-profit spin off of the organization 40 Below), and a significant part of the heart of downtown Syracuse would be resurrected. Mankiewicz said no matter what we do with downtown including how much success we have already achieved, until those central blocks on Salina Street have their lights back on, the perception will be that downtown is hurting. Perhaps because the most iconic pictures of a booming economic downtown Syracuse features this area, where the Landmark Theatre still stands.

Armory Square expansion
The Armory Square Association applied last year to expand the Square’s boundaries into this section of Salina Street. By doing so, it enabled this real estate to be included in the 1975 legislation that went through the state making the armory a business improvement district eligible for deals on financing. This has been one of the city’s tools in aiding developers and entrepreneurs to bring downtown back.

The overall plan
It is key to get more residential downtown, which has been in the works. With this comes even better security, economic growth of services, it keeps businesses in a centralized base and is “green.”

Instead of buildings being torn down and going into landfill, these are being updated with newer green products and systems. “There is nothing more inherently green than a concentration of downtown buildings,” Mankiewicz said. “Shortens commutes, doesn’t add to sprawl.

“A third of our jobs are still concentrated in the core of the city,” he said, “we are holding that.” So the idea that King and King and O’Brien and Gere are also coming back, strengthens this core.

In the renovations, and even the new construction as in the Hucko building, office and retail are located on lower floors with residential on the upper floors.

Mankiewicz said to date, 90 percent of all the residential being built is leased and in some cases there are waiting lists. The key is having rents of varying costs, as in Monahan’s building the former Masonic Temple on Montgomery Street.

“Housing is being driven by market rates,” Mankiewicz said, “a city is made up of people of all economic strata. We are not trying to be a city of just PhDs - you have to have a range of options.”

Formerly downtown’s rates were for only the very low income or very high. The city is trying to create some middle ground.


Who will be living downtown?
Their research says 40 percent are coming from the University Hill area.

CNY is third in the nation for a concentration of universities and colleges. And oddly enough, after examining the research, “In fact we don’t have this great brain drain,” the MDA Director of Air Services, Kevin Schwab said, “Our out-migration was very average, our issue is much more of a brain gain issue, attracting people to the area.”

He said young people leave to go to more urban environments, some will come back if we can provide this.
They are also finding empty nesters wanting to come back into urban environments.

What Central New Yorkers may not know about their city
Syracuse studied some other urban models, such as Providence, in its overall urban planning, but now other middle market cities are studying Syracuse.

“We are being asked to speak, (in places such as) Newark, Chicago, Sonoma and DC,” Mankiewicz said.

When they discovered that Syracuse did not appear on a new Top 10 Saddest Cities list (reported from Sunny 102 -FM morning show studios in Armory Square with Big Mike Fiss), Schwab said, in fact Syracuse is popping up on more of the lists you want to be on.

One other statistic that no one will believe is that according to the 2000 census by percentage the fastest growing neighborhoods were Syracuse’s lakefront and downtown. We lost population overall but there is a green spot in the middle, Schwabb said, noting just that morning the opening for The Black Olive, a new restaurant on Clinton Street in Armory Square and that the former MOVINO on Walton Street is reopening as Fresco’s Tortillas Grill.

On specifics about the 10 buildings, Mankiewicz said while they are awaiting the financial markets to start lending again, he will have some breaking news on at least two of the projects shortly.

CATEGORY: Development & Growth
TAGS: Salina Street Syracuse,Armory Square,Dey brothers, Witherells,Wilson building,Dave Mankiewicz,MDA,Downtown Committee,Syracuse MFA,Inside Syracuse,Black Olive Clinton Street,MOVINO,Kevin Schwab
EDITION: Syracuse City Eagle

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