The city of Syracuse is ready to move forward with plans to sell the former Syracuse Developmental Center property on the city’s west side. The city seized it for back taxes in August of 2019 and has been trying to find a developer ever since. Now, they appear to have one who is ready to buy the sprawling 47 acre site on Wilbur Avenue and build residential units. District Councilor Pat Hogan said they need more information.
“I want the revenue streams they plan to access. I want a breakdown of exactly the housing they’re planning. You mention market rate here, you mention affordable. Once again, this doesn’t really have a final price,” Hogan said.
Jen Tifft is the director of strategic initiatives for the city of Syracuse. She said the developer, Albanese Organization, has retained local architect King and King to start planning.
“That’s really going to give all of us the detail we’re all looking for in terms of the specific number of units per phase of development, the specific income mix, they’re going do a traffic study. But they’re really looking for the city to make a commitment in terms of signing a purchase agreement so they can produce a master site plan that we would then be able to approve,” Tifft said.
But Hogan wonders if they should seek other interested developers. It was only within the past two weeks that the state committed $29 million to demolish the 600,000 square feet of decaying buildings on the site, plus install new water and sewer lines and add roads and lighting.
“When we first offered it up as an RFP [request for proposals], that building had to be factored into the RFP. Nobody knew when they put the RFP in who was going to take care of the property, and maybe they’d have to take care of it. Now the state will come and clean it up, and it changes the paradigm,” Hogan said.
Hogan also wants to make sure the housing being considered is attractive to potential residents.
“We’ve been doing a lot of affordable housing in the city lately…single-family and two-family housing. But the dynamic’s changing. People don’t want these large buildings. I would have to see the architectural layout to support something like that,” Hogan said.
He will hold a committee meeting with the developer and other stakeholders to hammer out more details in the coming weeks.