Today’s Filling in is just a little bit different than usual. Instead of looking at one building or one site, we’re going to take a look at a whole block. Namely, Main Street from Clinton to St. Paul. If you hadn’t already heard, there is a huge event called The re:Main Social taking place there on October 1st. I hope all of you are able to make it. In the lead up to it, let’s discuss some short to long term visions for the area.
Posts Tagged ‘Filling In’...

Filling In: Fantasy Buildings Part 1
Tuesday, May 31st, 2016Welcome back, readers, to a new, semi-regular Filling In feature – Fantasy Buildings. Fantasy Building, really, since each feature will look at just one imaginary building I’ve been thinking about (imagining?). I’ll also share a few pictures of buildings that inspired the idea and maybe a few ideas of just where a building like this would work in Rochester.
Tags: Architectural Renderings, architecture, Fantasy Buildings, Filling In, Matt Denker, Matthew Denker, real-estate
Posted in Architecture | 2 Comments »

Filling In: 37 Eagle Street Part 4
Tuesday, March 29th, 2016When we last spoke, it was Halloween, and we were on the eve of our first zoning board of appeals and preservation board hearings. It’s now March and we’ve been to two hearings for each board, and spoiler alert, we’ve received approval(s) from each. Yay! But now that we’re here, let’s take a look at the process and all the fun we had…
Tags: 37 Eagle Street, City of Rochester, Corn Hill, Filling In, government, infill development, Matt Denker, Matthew Denker, preservation code, preservation district, Rochester Preservation Board, zoning, Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA), zoning code
Posted in Architecture, Urban Development | 2 Comments »

Filling In: Zoning Part 5, What Next?
Sunday, February 28th, 2016And now for the final chapter of our little zoning adventure. This is the part where you, the gentle reader, are given the opportunity to read a final few hundred words about the kinds of zoning changes that would really make a difference in Rochester. If that sounds terrible (it might be), don’t click on.
Tags: City of Rochester, Filling In, form-based code, Matt Denker, Matthew Denker, Rochester, Rochester NY, zoning, zoning code
Posted in Architecture, Urban Development | 4 Comments »

Filling In: Zoning Part 4, All the Other Zones
Thursday, November 5th, 2015Well, it had to come to this – a whirlwind article about everything else in Rochester. We’re going to run the gamut from Industrial, to all the Center City District (CCD) zones to Open Space, and everything inbetween. Buckle Up…
Tags: City of Rochester, Filling In, Matt Denker, Matthew Denker, Rochester, Rochester NY, zoning, zoning code
Posted in Architecture, Urban Development | 5 Comments »

Filling In: 37 Eagle Street Part 3
Thursday, October 15th, 2015Consider this a lightweight palette cleanser in the middle of the five course, multi-month feast that is the zoning series. Even so, it’s deeply related to zoning, so you’re not getting off that easy. Read on if you dare (Halloween pun intended!).
Tags: architecture, Corn Hill, custom home, Eagle Street, Filling In, Matthew Denker, real-estate, Rochester, Rochester NY, SWBR Architects, urban development
Posted in Architecture, Urban Development | 18 Comments »

Filling In: Zoning Part 3, Commercial
Wednesday, October 7th, 2015Goodbye houses, hello something more! Having already discussed the city’s 3 residential zones, it’s time to talk about its 3 mixed-use zones. In one of the many progressive moves in the 2003 re-zoning, Rochester moved away from pure commercial use zones by adding mixed use and residential uses to the (formerly) commercial zones. The narrative descriptions changed, but the letter designations did not. Anyway, ditch the bowtie, grab a monocle and let’s go…
Tags: development, Filling In, Matthew Denker, Rochester, Rochester NY, urban development, urban planning, zoning, zoning code
Posted in Architecture, Urban Development | 4 Comments »

Filling In: Zoning Part 2, Residential
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2015Hope your heart is still racing from our introduction to Zoning last week, because this week we’re talking about residential zoning in Rochester!
Contrary to common knowledge, residential zoning isn’t exclusively for residences (nor is commercial zoning exclusively for commercial – it’s a good place to build apartments, in fact). That said, Rochester has 3 specific residential zones that we’re discussing here. Grab your bow tie and let’s go…
Tags: City of Rochester, Filling In, Matt Denker, Matthew Denker, Rochester, Rochester NY, zoning, zoning code
Posted in Architecture, Urban Development | 34 Comments »

Filling In: Zoning Part 1, Introduction
Thursday, September 10th, 2015Well readers, this is it. The series of articles you’ve been waiting for your entire life without even knowing it. That’s right, we’re going to talk about zoning, and more specifically, zoning in Rochester. I’ve been known to refer to zoning as the last bastion for the wicked, and over the next few weeks, I look forward to pleading my case.
Tags: City of Rochester, Edward Bassett, Filling In, form-based code, Matt Denker, Matthew Denker, New York City, Rochester, Rochester NY, Village of Euclid (Ohio) v. Ambler Realty Co., West Palm Beach FL, zoning, zoning code
Posted in Architecture, Urban Development | 18 Comments »

Filling In: Wegmans Plaza
Sunday, March 22nd, 2015It has come to my attention that there are some pretty stalwart fans of Tops Friendly Markets out there! That means this is the Filling In for you (as opposed to this one).
Tags: East Avenue, East Avenue Wegmans, Filling In, grocery store, Matthew Denker, Rochester, Rochester NY, Top's Friendly Market, Wegman's, World Trade Center
Posted in Architecture, Urban Development | 27 Comments »

Filling In: Aldi
Monday, March 16th, 2015Welcome back, readers. As you know, we’ve previously discussed things to do with Tops should Aldi be built at Winton Road and Blossom Road. There’s also been a discussion about how the construction of Aldi went in Irondequoit. Today, I’d like to take a look at a few reasonably simple changes that would completely change the tenor of the proposed development…
Tags: Aldi, biking, Blossom Road, Bus Stops, Development News, Filling In, grocery store, Matthew Denker, North Winton Village, Tops, urban planning, Wegman's
Posted in Architecture, Rochester News, Urban Development | 23 Comments »

Filling In: Main St. Bus Shelters
Monday, March 2nd, 2015A local collective of artists/illustrators known as Hope Mountain have been publishing art books in Rochester for the past 4 years. Now they’re in the middle of Kickstarting
this year’s Volume 5 and they’re asking for our help…
Tags: art, bus shelter, City of Rochester, Filling In, Hope Mountain, Kickstarter, Main Street, Rochester, Rochester NY
Posted in Art + Culture, Transit + Infrastructure | No Comments »

Filling In: Tops Plaza
Friday, February 27th, 2015Some of you may know that there is a shiny, new-ish, giant Wegmans in Rochester. It’s over at East and Winton. Savvier readers may know about another grocery store nary a block away (but clearly on the wrong side of the tracks!). That’s right, there’s also a Tops. In addition, it has come to my attention that there are plans for an Aldi across the street on the site containing the old Roly-door building and Jim’s. For a city with few urban grocery stores, there’s food for everyone over here…
Tags: Aldi's, Filling In, Harris RF Communications, Matt Denker, Rochester, Rochester NY, Top's Friendly Market, Top's Plaza, Wegman's
Posted in Rochester News, Urban Development | 21 Comments »

Filling In: Banks
Monday, February 16th, 2015Today I’d like to take a slight departure from our normal Filling In fare. No, I don’t propose to fill in all the banks in Rochester, although that’s not such a bad idea, now that I think about it. What I’d like to talk about is banks and buying stuff. Well, not just any stuff, specifically real estate…
Tags: banks, Filling In, financing, Flour City National Bank, loans, National Bank of Rochester, real-estate, Rochester City Bank, Rochester Savings and Trust Company, Rochester Savings Bank
Posted in Architecture, Opinion, Rochester Homes for Sale, Rochester Images, Urban Development | 11 Comments »

Filling In: 37 Eagle Street Part 2
Sunday, January 4th, 2015Welcome to Part 2 of Filling In: 37 Eagle Street. It’s been a while, so to catch you up, in Part 1 my wife and I bought an empty lot at 37 Eagle Street in Corn Hill. But the fun doesn’t stop there. We decided to build ourselves a house on it, and we’re going to take you along for the ride!
Today I want to talk about architects. Just for starters, we decided we did not want off-the-shelf plans and would instead pay (about 10% of the overall project budget) for a house to be designed from scratch…
Tags: architecture, Corn Hill, custom home, Eagle Street, Filling In, Matthew Denker, real-estate, Rochester, Rochester NY, SWBR Architects, urban development
Posted in Architecture, Urban Development | 17 Comments »

Filling In: 37 Eagle Street Part 1
Tuesday, November 18th, 2014Welcome to the first part of Filling In: 37 Eagle Street. I’d love to tell you how many parts to expect, but I don’t really know. What I can tell you is that this is the first Filling In about a real live project: my wife and I are building ourselves a house at 37 Eagle Street in Corn Hill.
So what gives? Why a house, you say? Well, I’ve always dreamed of building myself a house, and if you haven’t noticed from previous columns, I’m very much interested in developing Rochester. If that’s not a fortuitous intersection of desires, I don’t know what is…
Tags: Corn Hill, Eagle Street, Filling In, Matthew Denker, real-estate, Rochester, Rochester NY, urban development
Posted in Urban Development | 21 Comments »

Filling In: Charlotte Street
Thursday, November 13th, 2014It’s kind of amazing we haven’t looked at Charlotte Street already, but better late than never. Also, the RFP from the city is out, so there’s that. You can read the details here
. Let’s just say the city is much more open minded about this proposal than the one for Midtown Parcel 5.
This proposal, in case you’re curious, is due December 5th. It’s going to be a busy few weeks for you if you’re trying to submit for this and Site 5…
Tags: 2 Vine, 40 Mercer, Charlotte Square, Charlotte Street, Christa Development, development, Filling In, Haags Alley, Hart's Local Grocers, Inner Loop, Jean Nouvel, Little Bakery, Pitkin Street, Rochester, Rochester NY
Posted in Transit + Infrastructure, Urban Development | 30 Comments »

Filling In: Midtown… Parcel 5
Thursday, November 6th, 2014As some of you may or may not know, the city recently released a Request For Proposals (RFP) for the redevelopment of another piece of the Midtown site. Parcel 5
, the site in question, is the very long block from Main St to Elm St and between the Windstream building to the west and 1 East Avenue (Bank of America) to the east. Let’s go back to our trusty Midtown site plan for a visual…
Tags: architecture, City of Rochester, downtown Rochester, Filling In, Main Street, Matthew Denker, Midtown Plaza, Midtown Rising, New York City, Rochester, Rochester NY, urban development, urban renewal, urban revitalization
Posted in Urban Development | 21 Comments »
