Residents on Syracuse’s south side are wondering what the future might hold for the Dunk and Bright property once the furniture retailer closes its South Salina Street location.
Julius Lawrence has lived on the south side for more than 60 years and he’s never known a time without Dunk and Bright.
“We just hate to have to lose them because they've been here so long in the area but they're going to leave a hole in the community," he said.
The huge store has been a landmark for nearly a century. Lawrence is a facilitator with the south side Tomorrow’s Neighborhood’s Today, or TNT.
“I'm just wondering what's going to be there after they leave," he said. "They're going to try to sell the building, I know, but I don't know what's going to happen there. I got notice the city going to be looking at this and see what we're going to do.”
Mayor Sharon Owens said the city is not interested in the six-acre property, and she’d prefer to keep it on the tax rolls. She said owner Joe Bright met with her and her administration before last month’s announcement, and she’s confident he has the area’s best interests in mind.
“He talked about how important it is to get the right buyer or the right owner in the building because they've been a really big part of the neighborhood," Owens said. "He wants to make sure that we're getting someone in there that's also a good partner.”
The property is not zoned commercial, but rather as a mixed-use district like most of the adjacent blocks of South Salina Street. That designation encourages higher density residential development with ground floor commercial use. Mayor Owens said she prefers it to remain an active retail location.
“Whether you are going into the furniture store, the Southside Innovation Center next door, or whether Jazz in the City was there giving concerts in the back, we just love for it to continue to be that kind of communal space," she said. "And I don't want to limit the possibilities of what could be there, but we definitely would want to keep that environment going with whoever owns it next.”
Its 100,000 square feet includes the showroom and adjacent SSIC according to the real estate listing. Syracuse University leases the building from Dunk and Bright and recently invested in modern offices, incubator space and community space with plans to remain there long term. Agents said there is no asking price for the parcels and buildings.
