[ NEWS FROM THE WEEK PAST ]
High Falls visitor center closing The Center at High Falls, the museum-gift store-gallery for visitors to the area, will close in June, according to city officials. The center, which was reporting financial losses, may have fallen victim to a change in occupancy and commercial use for many of the buildings in the area. The city once imagined High Falls as a tourist and entertainment draw, but the area became more of an office-apartment location instead.
I-Square construction starts
Developers Mike and Wendy Nolan broke ground on I-Square, a seven-building, mixeduse development in the Town of Irondequoit. Crews are doing utility work at the site this week, says a post on the I-Square website. The project is proceeding after disagreements between the Nolans and the town over a tax incentive agreement, which have since been resolved.
August groundbreaking for train station House Representative Louise Slaughter said
4 CITY
APRIL 10-16, 2013
that construction on a new intermodal station for trains and buses will begin in August. The station will replace the current one, which was built in 1970 and was supposed to be temporary. Construction should be completed by 2016.
News
Politicians behaving badly
Two separate bribery cases set the state capital on edge. Senator Malcolm Smith, a Democrat, was arrested and charged for allegedly paying several New York City Republican leaders to support his mayoral candidacy; those leaders were also arrested and charged. Democratic Assembly member Eric Stevenson was also arrested and charged for allegedly accepting money to introduce specific legislation. The New York Post reported that Governor Andrew Cuomo and his aides planned to use the scandals to oust Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver from his leadership position, and that Assembly Majority Leader Joe Morelle was their favorite to replace him. But Cuomo said it’s up to the legislative bodies to select their leaders and he wouldn’t interfere.
How it may look at the intersection of Mount Hope Avenue and the newly created Celebration Drive when the College Town project is completed (more images at rochestercitynewspaper.com). PROVIDED IMAGE
DEVELOPMENT | BY JEREMY MOULE
College Town’s window problem When Marcia Barry, the City of Rochester’s director of planning and zoning, meets with College Town developers this week, they’ll talk windows. Last month, the city’s zoning board gave College Town, a 16-acre mixed-use development planned for the west side of Mount Hope Avenue between Elmwood Avenue and Crittenden Boulevard, leeway on some zoning requirements. The condition is that developers add “transparency” to the street fronts of the project’s planned grocery store and its hotel.
The hotel would be located on Elmwood, and the grocery would front the newly created Celebration Drive. Celebration would bisect Mount Hope between Elmwood and Crittenden Boulevard. Barry has to give final approval to the project’s site plan and says she’ll work with developers to see if more windows can be added to the first story of the grocery store and hotel. Or if windows aren’t feasible, she says she’ll press them on alternatives like showcases or display space. Prior to last month’s zoning board meeting, College Town’s developers submitted a plan that included
street-level blacked-out windows for the grocery and the hotel. Barry recommended rejecting the plan, so developers revised it to include more windows, she says. Developers added windows to the hotel facade in what would be a conference area, and they added display areas in front of the kitchen space. They also added windows in front of the grocery store, though Barry says there is still room for improvement. Barry says she expects revised designs to be submitted to the city after she talks to developers.