D&C on midtown plans
It’s hard for me to write about the new plans for Midtown Plaza without having this sick feeling that Rotten or MAT or some such will show up here and call me an idiot, but I think that converting of Midtown Plaza into headquarters for PAETEC is an excellent idea. It’s even harder for me to admit that I think the D&C editorial board is on target here:
The revitalization it would spark for downtown, alone, makes the plan worthwhile. Gov. Spitzer, who announced the plan before a cheering crowd gathered at Midtown Plaza, said PAETEC’s new offices will take up about 500,000 square feet — leaving more than half of the site for possibilities only as limited as the imagination of developers.
PAETEC CEO Arunas Chesonis told this page he could even see an urban version of the Pittsford Wegmans in that area. Chesonis deserves the first round of cheers for his willingness to invest in the city’s core to address the company’s growing workforce needs. Mayor Bob Duffy is next for his commitment to the site and his efforts to bring Gov. Spitzer on board. And then there’s Spitzer for following through with his commitment to the needs of upstate.
It’s now up to the state Legislature, which must give its approval to the plan, to put aside its political infighting to get these ambitious plans moving forward. Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, in particular, must get beyond his considerable differences with Spitzer.
I’m with you! This is an excellent plan.
Far too often people pin their hopes to a dream of what once was. Sorry, but you can’t force retail to work where it just doesn’t want to work. Retail for retail’s sake is stupid. But retail that develops because of 600 more working people in the city will be awesome.
I agree, Midtown was a hot spot when I was growing up, but there’s asbestos to be gotten rid of here. I just hope they keep the clock.
Tom, by the time they get it built, it will be closer to 1,000 employees. I think it’s a good plan for a couple of reasons. First, it has an achievable, solid goal: build an office building and have a company occupy it. There are no “build it and they will come” parts to the plan. Second, it puts the horse before the cart. There need to be people downtown for downtown to develop. This plan gets people downtown. The other plans — especially High Falls — put the cart before the horse by building things for people to do downtown, without giving people a reason (work) to be downtown.
I got yer back, here, Exile. It’s a great thing that’s happening. The state and city are making the parcel ready for development, and private interests are going to do the development (and, importantly, own and manage the buildings)
On of the things I’ve been hearing is that there’s going to be a large residential component too - townhouses / rowhouses. They’ll likely restore some of the through streets as well.
It has the potential to be a New Urbanist’s wet dream.
Also, did you know that the city built (and owns) the garage under Midtown? That was part of the deal that got the mall built in the first place.
let us not forget that paetec is taxable, as opposed to say, an indian casino, which is not. so prime downtown real estate being used by a local company. everyone wins. except for those pessimists that permeate our area who are likely sad that the city is coming along nicely after a tough stretch.
I’m as excited as everyone else about this. I was at the press conference and there was such an incredible positive vibe wafting through the crowd, it was invigorating. Hopefully a top notch architect has been commissioned to work on the designs and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they choose the taller, 35-story option. This city deserves a new tallest; Xerox has been our highest scraper for 40 years. Now that the site will be cleared and ready for development, I will continue to voice my support for the construction of the mid-sized, aka Garth Fagan, theater on the current McCurdy Building site. Whatever form this takes, this project combined with Renaissance Square, Block F, and the South Avenue Garage residential high rise (and the many smaller projects), will mean that downtown Rochester will be an incredible hub of construction activity over the next few years.