[ news from the week past ]
Development deal for Midtown Tower
Larry Glazer of Buckingham Properties and Bob Morgan of Morgan Management will combine forces to redevelop Midtown Tower. The $55 million plan will create up to 182 rental housing units in the tower, as well as three to five stories of commercial space. Mayor Tom Richards also announced that the city will begin gathering public input on a new master plan for downtown. There will be public meetings in January, and an online survey can be found at cityofrochester.gov/CenterCity.
Rochester train station proceeding
State Department of Transportation Commissioner Joan McDonald said she expects construction on a new Rochester train station to begin sometime next year. The project, which the state is managing, has received $26.5 million in funding commitments from the federal, state, and city governments. The state has also put together a steering committee, which includes Mayor Tom Richards and House Representative Louise Slaughter, to
guide the station’s design. The station will be owned and operated by Amtrak. Project website: www.dot.ny.gov/rochesterintermodalcenter/
News
Big buy for RoCo The Rochester Contemporary Art Center has a permanent address for the first time; RoCo has purchased the building that currently houses its galleries and studios at 137 East Avenue. Executive Director Bleu Cease says he hopes the mortgage will be paid off in five years, and has set up a Future Fund for donations.
DEVELOPMENT | BY CHRISTINE CARRIE FIEN
Mayor: city will not go all out for theater
Same-sex marriage goes to court
The Supreme Court announced that it will weigh in on two cases: Proposition 8 — which is California’s ban on samesex marriage — and the Defense of Marriage Act. The announcement is not a surprise; legal scholars have predicted for several years that the fate of the marriage-equality movement would be determined by the country’s highest court. The Obama administration has argued that DOMA is unconstitutional. The court is expected to hear the cases sometime in the spring.
Rochester Mayor Tom Richards: the city could never pay for a new RBTL theater on its own. FILE PHOTO
Don’t expect the City of Rochester to swoop in with a sweet offer to convince RBTL to build its new theater in downtown Rochester. If RBTL is serious about going to Irondequoit, Mayor Tom Richards says, it’ll go with his blessing. “I’m trying to be consistent with respect to what I think the civic responsibility is to this project,” he says. “It would be nice if [the theater] was downtown. It would be nice it if was in Midtown. But not at any price. Because while it’s important, it’s not necessarily the most important thing.” Developer Scott Congel has agreed to build a 3,000-seat theater for RBTL as part of his massive Medley Centre project. Congel would also pay off the debt on the Auditorium Theatre, which RBTL owns, and pay for renovations to the Aud. RBTL would continue to own the Aud, which would be used for smaller performances. RBTL has not raised money to demonstrate that the theater project
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is credible, Richards says. For a $70 million to $80 million theater, the RBTL would need to come up with approximately $10 million or $20 million in private funds, Richards says. RBTL would also have to find a way to cover any operating deficits the theater incurs, he says. RBTL board chair Arnie Rothschild says the organization has never tried to raise money for a new theater in the city. City officials haven’t expressed a real interest in the project, he says. Richards says the whole thing shouldn’t fall on the city’s shoulders. Even though the Aud is in the city, a new theater would serve the broader region. But no one — politicians, Monroe County, state government, Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council — is stepping up with money or offers of support for RBTL’s new theater, Richards says.
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