The old eyesore known as River Park Commons, along the Genesee River in Rochester, will get a facelift. Conifer Realty, the owner of the low income housing project built in the 70s, will renovate a 200 unit tower and tear down 5 lower building along the river.
Drawings released this week show what the developer plans to replace them with. The new 100 units will have a mix of wood and brick facades, and will be built on the foundations of the existing buildings.
That leaves Bob Boyd of the South Wedge Planning Committee uncertain whether the new project will be that much of an improvment. He made a video presentation outlining many of his concerns, including the lack of on-site parking (that he fears will force in increase in street side parking in the area), limitied visual and physical access to the river, among others.
The City and the developer understand those concerns, and will work to address some of them. They say that they are limited to the layout of the original development because they need to use the existing foundations. They say that a lot of fill was used on that site, and they have no idea what contaminants may exist under the soil. While that have no knowledge of any harmful substances, they commonly exist in many areas along the river.
Either way, getting the old structures down will be an improvement. The complex is 2/3 vacant - there are 30 remaining tenents in the buildings slated to be torn down. Those residents will be out by the end of the year. For more information, check out the link to southwedge.org and look at Bob Boyd's youtube video posted below.
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