Plans for East Main St., Gibbs St. Project scaled back
P1/25/10
Brian Sharp
D&C Staff Writer
Plan for East Main St., Gibbs St. project scaled back
What is approaching a three-year effort to secure a developer for arguably the most valuable undeveloped property downtown has taken another turn.
One of two remaining developers in the running has dropped out. The other team has scaled back its plans ÷ from a once-envisioned $63 million project with a 101/2-story tower to a $20 million development with maximum building height of four stories.
"We had to redesign the whole thing," said Bud DeWolff, whose DeWolff Partnership Architects joined with Christa Companies and Morgan Management in submitting the revised plan. The property, a parking lot on the northwest corner of East Main and Gibbs streets, across from the
Eastman Theatre, is being offered by the city of Rochester and the Cultural Center Commission. The commission, created in 1979 and staffed by city and county appointees, has overseen redevelopment of the area surrounding the theater.
"Naturally, I would have preferred a 10-story building there to realize the potential of the site," DeWolff said, adding that the residential-scale building is preferable to the neighborhood, that the cultural district is a conservative area and that a high-rise is costly to build.
"In this market today, banks aren't doing anything, so therefore it's financially driven, it's a combination of everything," he said.
This is the third deadline for proposals since mid-2007. The commission selected a developer last year but could not reach agreement. The commission asked the runners-up to revise and resubmit plans by last Friday.
Mark IV Enterprises chose not to resubmit. "We think it's a neat project, a great site, but we are focusing our efforts in other areas right now," said Paul Foti, executive vice president of Mark IV, pointing to a housing and retail development in Pittsford. "We figured it would be better to let Christa
take it."
Christa/Morgan already is redeveloping Midtown Tower, and Christa previously developed another Cultural Center Commission property into The Sagamore on East. However, the commission's selection committee must review this plan and determine whether they want to move forward or,
possibly, start over.
Midtown Tower, a $71 million project with considerable commercial space, 186 market-rate apartments and 24 condominiums, did not affect Mark IV's decision to walk away from the project, Foti said, as the Gibbs and Main streets site caters to a unique market in the East End. The revised proposal, reflecting many of the design features of surrounding buildings, would be built of brick, limestone panels and glass.
The only for-sale housing, with five three-story brownstones, would be on Grove Street. On Chestnut Street, apartments would fill what would look like four-story townhouses. Plans call for a total of 250 beds in apartments, down from 320 beds. Retail space would include a deli, and there would be a
public square.
BDSHARP@DemocratandChronicle.com
