City Hall Commons in downtown Syracuse is getting a makeover and a new owner.
Mayor Ben Walsh announced Wednesday the historic building is set to be sold for $850,000 and a $13.2 million redevelopment.
Hanover Real Estate Development plans to transform the commons into a mixed use space.
City Hall Commons will be transformed by a local developer into a mixed use space. Mayor Ben Walsh on Wednesday announced. The company is looking to renovate the building to include commercial use on the first floor, where the current attium is located, and affordable and market rate apartments on higher floors. Walsh said the sale of the building will result in better use of the property.
“We are taking another major step in our efforts to generate new income from city assets and achieving higher and better uses for underutilized and underappreciated and under invested in city buildings,” Walsh said. “In doing so we are making sure we remain focused on our core business, providing effective, efficient and equitable services to our constituents—that’s what we are charged to do.”
Hanover Real Estate Development already has a number of projects underway downtown, including in Hanover Square. The company’s properties include Water Street Bagels and other buildings on the same street. Hanover Real Estate Development’s Adam Fumarola said he and his co-founder Luke Esposito are committed not only to the Syracuse, but to the specific neighborhood.
“We are super excited about the ‘growing vibrancy’ of Hanover Square, and it’s not just excitement for the immediate area, but excitement for how this whole model can be played out again and again in the city of Syracuse in different neighborhoods in different areas,” Fumarola said.
City Hall Commons houses dozens of offices for municipal employees. They’ll now move to the seventh floor of One Park Place, located on East Fayette and South State streets. Zamir Equities currently owns the new building and property manager Jenni Sullivan said they needed to conduct a redevelopment of their own.
“We have spent over $6 million on One Park Places’ revitalization, to bring the building up to our Zamir Equities standards,” Sullivan said.
The city of Syracuse hopes to call One Park Place home by early 2023.