DEVELOPMENT: Townhomes Coming to Downtown

There's more good news for downtown Rochester.  In a unanimous vote at its January 25th meeting, City Council approved the sale of 116 West Main Street to a developer for $1.  The current site - a city-owned surface parking lot - will be turned into 24 market-rate townhomes and a mixed-use commercial development.

The city is selling the property to Plymouth Terrace, LLC - headed up by John Summers, of Graywood Custom Homes.  This is a departure from the suburban housing tracts that Graywood has already developed in the area - Kensington Woods and Auburn Estates in Pittsford, and Bristol Harbour in Canandaigua.

The Plymouth Terrace project will be going up in what's referred to as "Scott Alley", across the street from the Hochstein School of Music, and two blocks west of City Hall.  The diagram above shows how the plots have been divided up (this could always change).  There are 24 narrow parcels, each containing an approximately 1,850 square foot, two and a half story townhome with a 2-car detached garage. 

So far, the developer has not released any schematics, but with the parcels being so long and narrow, a logical possibility is a row-house look on the front (which I would assume would be the N. Plymouth Ave. side) with patios and detached garages at the back, facing Scott Alley.  This is pure speculation, but it would make sense.  The city is retaining a right of way in the middle of the block, to eventually connect Scott Alley and N. Plymouth.  This would approximately align with Church Street.

A commercial development would anchor the project on the south side, along West Main Street.  That building will be at least two and a half stories as well, and will include office and/or retail space, along with parking space. 

This comes as the City is trying to bring new life into the Cascade District - an area of old warehouses on the west end of downtown inside the inner loop.  Once along the original route of the Erie Canal, the neighborhood has declined in recent years.  It boarders rougher neighborhoods to the west of 490, and an area of downtown that's home to many government buildings.  This development is part of the Cascade Area Urban Renewal District.

The Plymouth Terrace project is the latest announcement in a series of encouraging developments for the area.  Just down the street, Nothnagle - the Rochester area's largest realty firm - is renovating a series of old buildings that will become the company's new headquarters.  There are also reports that the City is close to making an announcement on the former Josh Lofton High School Building, across the street from Nothnagle.

The property being sold to Plymouth Terrace, LLC for $1 has an appraised value of $1,176,000.  The City gives several reasons for the bargain-basement price tag.  While recent housing studies show there is a demand for owner-occupied units in downtown Rochester, the cost of building them is not attractive for developers without incentives.  This tactic of offering "dollar deals" has been used in many large downtown projects, and was key in sealing the deal with Christa Development / Morgan Management to re-purpose Midtown Tower, as well as attracting ESL to build its new headquarters downtown (which also went up on a city-owned parking lot).

Construction on the Plymouth Terrace project is scheduled to begin this spring, and is expected to take about 18 months to complete.