RochesterSubway.com : RocLinks 12/20/14

RocLinks 12/20/14

December 20th, 2014

From local development to just plain news of the weird, here are your RocLinks for this past week…

Tech Boom

its incubator operation into the Winn-renovated Sibley Building. This is excellent news for downtown, although the inclusion of ‘wet’ facilities for biotech seems a little over the top.

Whiplash

In what can only be called a wild turn of events, Pittsford has decided

they will build a park instead of the large mixed-use development Mark IV had been planning. The announcement is confusing, though, because the park is shown as co-existing with the development in many images, and Mark IV has already gone through the lawsuit process once (and won the right) to build. It’s unclear how a park will happen without Mark IV handing the land back over.

You Could Go with This…

You may recall a recent post here about Parcel 5 over at Midtown. Well the city managed to get $100k slipped into a state aid package

to study putting a PAC here. I can only hope it looks more like Symphony House in Philadelphia, and less like any recent PAC plans for Rochester.

In Service

Did you know Rochester is ranked third in volunteer hours per capita

among major US metros?

Arm(ory)ed and Ready

Finally, be sure to watch this short video

about the Culver Road Armory.

• • •

As always, use the comments below as open discussion for anything in these links – or let us know if there’s a topic you’d like to see us hit more aggressively in future RocLinks. Have a great weekend everyone!

Tags: Culver Road Armory, development, Downtown Innovation Zone (DIZ), High Tech Incubator, Mark IV, Mark IV Construction, Midtown, Midtown Rising, Pittsford, Rochester, Rochester NY, RocLinks, Sibley Building, volunteer, web sites, Winn Development, WinnCompanies

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 20th, 2014 at 8:36 am and is filed under Rochester News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

8 Responses to “RocLinks 12/20/14”

Hep says:

December 20, 2014 at 9:11 am

Does the development corporation own the land in Pittsford? Are they just supposed to hand it over to Pittsford? And, where was Pittsford before the development corporation purchased the land?
Matthew Denker says:

December 20, 2014 at 9:38 am

It appears Mark IV owns the property. Maybe not? If they do, it’s unclear exactly how Pittsford will take it. Further, as with all communities, they don’t generally want to put their money where their mouths are. It’s all well and good to fight a development, but when it comes to actually costing real money, well, you know, at least we showed how willing we were to fight it.
Matthew Denker says:

December 20, 2014 at 9:41 am

UPDATE: As per the village resolution, Mark IV does own the land: http://www.westportcrossing.com/Pittsford_Special_Permit_Resolution.pdf

“WHEREAS, by application dated June 23, 2009, PITTSFORD CANALSIDE PROPERTIES,
LLC (“Applicant”) submitted applications for Special Permits to permit the construction and
operation of multiple-dwelling buildings and a restaurant on land owned by Applicant at 75
Monroe Avenue, Pittsford, NY (Tax Account No. 151.170-0003-003) (the “Property”) pursuant
to Article VA R-5 Residential District (§§ 210-19.1 – 210-19.5) of the Code of the Village of
Pittsford (the “Code”);”
Hep says:

December 20, 2014 at 9:47 am

So, they’ll have to purchase the property, then hire someone to design the park, then the park will have to be “built”, then maintained. I have a feeling that there will be an empty lot there for years and years. Mark IV should fight this.
Matthew Denker says:

December 20, 2014 at 9:49 am

There’s almost no way the park happens. Mark IV has already won one lawsuit about this. It’s unlikely Pittsford is going to offer them a fair market price for the property based on what they are, theoretically, now allowed to build there. Based on that, it is highly likely the development will happen as planned, just set back another few months.
Powers says:

December 20, 2014 at 10:23 am

Um, not to be a downer here but you guys are completely misunderstanding what project Pittsford is talking about.

The one that has undergone lawsuits — Westport Crossing — is on the south side of the canal, a former industrial park just inside the village limits, off Monroe Avenue.

The parcel that the news item is talking about is larger, on the north side of the canal, and is currently green space mostly just outside the village limits. It’s literally right across the canal from Westport Crossing. It will connect the Erie Canal trail with a rail trail just south of French Road.

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2014/12/17/pittsford-municipalities-announce-new-trail-development/20562279/
Matthew Denker says:

December 20, 2014 at 10:30 am

Not a downer at all! Thank you for the clarification. That makes more sense, and it much appreciated.
ELF says:

December 20, 2014 at 12:32 pm

What happened to that d. Kent & Co. store that was in the Armory?

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