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Rochester's Midtown Tower could live on
Rochester's Midtown Tower could live on
December 5, 2008
Brian Sharp
D&C Staff Writer
The city went looking for a developer Thursday interested in saving Midtown Plaza Tower from demolition.
But not the tower as people see it today. First, the city would strip the 17-story structure down to its steel framework, removing the building's exterior, main roof, plumbing and interior walls.
"There are options there, that the developer will have, to keep certain things," said Steve Golding, the city's manager of downtown development.
"There is a lot of flexibility. ... They could say, 'We don't want the old hotel,' and we take that off. We could demolish as many floors as they would like."
All this is spelled out in a Request for Proposals issued by the city Thursday.
The state has allocated $55 million to tear down the six-building, 8.6-acre Midtown complex beginning next year. PAETEC Holding Corp. intends to build its new headquarters along South Clinton Avenue, so that is where the demolition will start. Midtown Tower fronts Broad Street, between South Clinton Avenue and Chestnut Street, and will be the last structure to come down.
"We've been working with a number of developers over the past four or five years that think that particular part of the existing complex is the most viable for conversion to other uses," said Heidi Zimmer-Meyer, president of the Rochester Downtown Development Corp. "And the most common concept for that tower has been residential conversion."
While downtown has seen a number of new housing developments and conversions, Zimmer-Meyer said it can absorb more. The uncertainty, she said, comes from the economy, which already caused PAETEC to downsize its building plans from a 37-story high rise to a nine- or 10-story building.
City officials are expecting any proposals received to favor residential development. Golding said that, in addition to local interest, he has shown the property to an out-of-town developer now working on a proposal. City officials are not looking to save other buildings, he said, given the intent to open up the site and re-establish the street system and connections to the East End.
The city estimate of $55 million for demolition dates to December 2006. Midtown Tower accounts for $9 million of the total. More than half of the expense is for asbestos abatement, which must be done before the structures can be razed.
"There are some savings there, obviously," Golding said of potential benefits to not demolishing Midtown Tower. "Because, to demolish that building, they would have to take it down basically brick by brick, starting at the top level with a lot of manual labor.
"You are not going to implode it over the (underground parking) garage."
James Newton is the business development manager for DeWolff Partnership Architects LLP of Rochester. His group twice proposed projects for another downtown development site at 420 E. Main St., near the Eastman Theatre, and Newton said they would certainly investigate Midtown Tower.
The opportunity to buy a building framework intact would provide significant savings, he said, but also limit design.
Midtown Tower was built in 1962 as an office building. And while PAETEC's plans to build on the site is a plus, he said, it's unclear what will become of the other Midtown parcels, who would develop them and when.
The city wants all proposals submitted by March 2, and, if one is selected, the developer must secure financing and reach an agreement with the city by Oct. 1. However, if no practical proposal is submitted or if funding is uncertain, "the Tower will be demolished and removed along with the other buildings," the city stated in its Request for Proposals, "rather than
risk compromising the realization of a successfully redeveloped and revitalized site."
BDSHARP@DemocratandChronicle.com
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