(Rochester, N.Y.) – Midtown Tower could soon become one of Rochester’s swankiest addresses.
Developer Christa Companies/Morgan Management Partnership unveiled a $71 million plan to transform the aging and empty office building into luxury housing.
The project would bring two dozen new condominiums, 186 mid-priced to high-end apartment units, as well as commercial real estate, into downtown. The condominiums would be listed at $400,000.
It is the second project announced for the Midtown site. The other is PAETEC's headquarters. Both projects are contingent on financing and an incentive package from the city and state. The Midtown Tower plan hinges on a $4 million state grant.
“This proposal right here, and with the reputations of these two gentlemen and their companies, there's no doubt in my mind it will create much more synergy for that site, much more confidence in local developers,” Duffy said Monday, likening to the Midtown site to a swimming pool where developers were waiting for someone else to jump in first.
“It secures a serious anchor for the redevelopment of the whole 8 and a half acres and I think that's phenomenal,” said Heidi Zimmer-Meyer of Rochester Downtown Development Corporation.
Gar Lowenguth, real estate agent for the tower's condo units, lives in another of Christa’s downtown projects, The Sagamore, where condos sold for several hundred thousand dollars.
Lowenguth says those who doubt there's a market for such downtown living need only look at his building. “Here we are sitting in the Sagamore now, and everybody said it would never take place. It would never happen. So this building is proof that there is a market.”
The rest of Midtown Plaza is slated for demolition. The total public and private investment in the Midtown site to date is about $248 million. That includes $100 million for PAETEC’s headquarters, $12 million the city spent on relocation of Midtown tenants, acquisition of the property, and environmental assessments, and $65 million for demolition. New streets and other infrastructure will cost millions more.
The Midtown Tower redevelopment is expected to be finished in 2012.
