On Monday, Governor Hochul announced five transformational projects in the City of Rochester that will be funded by Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) Awards totaling $10 million.  The first is the redevelopment of four historic mixed-use buildings at the corner of Main Street and North Clinton, in a block that The Landmark Society added to its Five to Revive list in 2015.  Located in the heart of the city’s historic shopping district, this block-long collection of retail buildings features important examples of commercial architecture constructed between the 1860s and 1940s.  The buildings have been a blight on the downtown Rochester streetscape for decades, but are now slated for an extensive renovation that will create middle-income housing and modern ground floor retail.  This project received a $4 million DRI Award.

A nearly $1.4 million award will go toward developing Alta Vista, a six-story mixed-use building on four vacant lots at the northwest corner of Pleasant Street and Franklin Street. The mixed-income residential project includes supportive housing for survivors of domestic violence. The Landmark Society will have space in the new building to complement events held at the adjacent St. Joseph’s Park, which will also be improved. The Alta Vista project will help transform a part of the City that was dubbed one of “the world’s worst parking craters” in 2014 by StreetsBlog.org.  The intersection is paved at all four corners, with little evidence of the streets, buildings, and businesses that were there before urban renewal and the Inner Loop transformed downtown.

More information: https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-announces-transformational-projects-rochester-part-10-million-downtown