SYRACUSE — Construction work on the upcoming 115,000-square-foot National Veterans Resource Center (NVRC) at Syracuse University is well underway with a timeline that stretches through much of this calendar year.

Rochester–based LeChase Construction Services, LLC, which operates an office at 609 Erie Boulevard West in Syracuse, is serving as the construction manager on the project.

The endeavor has a total cost of 

$62.5 million. New York City–based SHoP Architects handled the design work on the project.

Syracuse University officials on May 15 gave local media members a tour of the construction site which is bordered by Waverly Avenue, South Crouse Avenue, and Marshall Street near the Syracuse campus. The NVRC should be ready to open in early 2020, Syracuse University and LeChase officials said.

Despite some “challenges” with winter-weather conditions, the construction effort “is going very well,” Michael Wooden, project superintendent with LeChase Construction, said in speaking with reporters at the construction site on May 15.

He noted that crews have started working on the building’s exterior façade. 

“It’s going to be a pretty cool building,” said Wooden.

More than 30 subcontractors are involved in the project, Jennifer Miglioratti, media contact for LeChase Construction Services, said in an email reply to a CNYBJ inquiry.

Some of the subcontractors included Mattessich Iron, LLC of Memphis, N.Y., which is doing some of the steel work on the project and Huen Electric of DeWitt, which is handling the project’s electrical work.

The NVRC will “leverage a public-private sector partnership model to nurture academic research, actionable programming, and collaborative thought leadership positioned to impact veterans and their families” on campus, in New York, and across the nation. 

Its five-year impact will include generating $300 million in regional economic activity and creating more than 300 direct and indirect jobs, Syracuse University contends. 

Personnel will begin moving into this building in December with a formal opening sometime in early spring 2020, Michael Haynie, vice chancellor for strategic initiatives and innovation and founder and executive director of the Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF), said in addressing reporters during the May 15 media event.

In discussing the upcoming building’s characteristics, Haynie called it “the most accessible building that Syracuse University has ever built.” 

The entire building will have ramps for accessibility and its auditorium won’t have any steps. 

“Each floor will have tactile maps for folks with sight impairments so they cannot just get to the building but also understand what is represented on each one of those floors,” said Haynie.

The NVRC’s tenants will include Syracuse’s Institute for Veterans and Military Families; Office of Veteran and Military Affairs; Army Reserve Officer Training Corps; Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps; Student Veterans Resource Center; Regional Veterans Resource Center; U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs “Vet-Success on Campus;” National Center of Excellence for Veteran Business Ownership; and flex office space for local, county and state government veterans representatives and community-based veterans’ organizations.

The venue will also include a research center, a veteran business outreach center and accelerator, and a regional cultural center and museum.        

SYRACUSE — Developers of the Whitney Lofts, a mixed-use redevelopment project that targeted 321 and 323 S. Salina St. in downtown Syracuse, have formally opened the project.

The $3.5 million development created 16 new apartments, a tenant fitness center, private terraces on two of the units along the back, said Ryan Benz, project developer and a licensed real-estate salesperson with Acropolis Realty Group of Syracuse. 

“I along with my partner, Steve Case, Shashank Bhatt, and my wife, Leigh-Ann, are extremely proud to be here today to open this project and most importantly to celebrate the continued downtown resurgence,” Benz said to open his remarks at the May 24 formal-opening event. 

The project began “more than two years ago,” he added. It takes its name from the Whitney Department Store which once operated in 321 S. Salina St.

Rich & Gardner Construction Company of Syracuse is the contractor on the project, while Dalpos Architects & Integrators, also of Syracuse, is the designer. 

The Whitney Lofts include Oh My Darling and Clementine, a full-size restaurant and grab-and-go breakfast and lunch counter, respectively, which opened on the ground floor in March. 

Operated by Ryan Benz and Leigh Ann Boatman-Benz, together the restaurant space occupies 5,500 square feet. In addition, a speakeasy called “The Fitz,” opened in the basement of the building in April. The Fitz was “designed with the Landmark Theatre in mind,” per a news release about the project.

“We believe a robust downtown market is critical in continuing the positive momentum and believe that with additions like the Whitney Lofts along with our beautiful new restaurant Oh My Darling, we’ll continue to attract most importantly new employers to come back downtown and will continue this tremendous momentum,” said Benz.

The speakers at the formal-opening event also included Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh.

“Downtown isn’t just about one demographic anymore … You have empty nesters. You have millennials. You have everything in between. It’s just really exciting to see,” said Walsh.

Crediting assistance

In his remarks, Benz credited the assistance of local, state, and federal agencies as they pursued the Whitney Lofts project.

He noted the work of U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D–N.Y) and his office in helping the developers navigate the historic tax-credit process. Schumer helped them first announce the project in September 2017.

Schumer’s staff worked with state officials and those at the National Park Service, which allowed the developers to remove the “blighted” façades that dated to the 1960s to reveal the building’s original historic windows.

“Without their support and that of the [New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation] and the National Park Service, this project would not have been possible,” said Benz. 

The Central New York Regional Economic Development Council (REDC) had recommended the projects for $320,000 in state funding, which Benz called “another critical component.”

“[Community Preservation Corp.] provided a $3.6 million construction loan and a SONYMA-insured $3.5 million permanent loan through its partnership with the New York State Common Retirement Fund,” said Benz. SONYMA is short for State of New York Mortgage Agency.

CenterState CEO led the regional advocacy efforts for the historic preservation tax credits and also guided the developers through the application process for the REDC funding.

The Downtown Committee of Syracuse Inc. submitted the paperwork to establish the South Salina Street Historic District, Benz noted. 

“[The Downtown Committee’s] work [is] why we stand here today, paving the way for future developers to use the tax credit as we did as an economic-development tool,” he added.

SYRACUSE — Work on the recently opened Catherine Street Apartments started in May 2017 and finished last October.

That’s according to Mike Moyer, senior project manager for Christa Construction, LLC of Rochester, the construction manager on the project. He spoke with CNYBJ after state and local officials formally opened the Catherine Street Apartments on May 22.

It’s a $17.6 million “affordable and supportive” housing development at 501 Catherine St. in Syracuse.

“Everything was subcontracted,” says Moyer.

 Subcontractors on the project included Woodcock & Armani of DeWitt, which handled the plumbing work, and Demco of DeWitt, which was responsible for the project’s electrical work, according to Moyer.

Thirty of the structure’s 50 apartments are reserved for individuals who are eligible for on-site supportive services that promote “stability, health and independent living,” the office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a May 22 news release. 

State financing for the $17.6 million project includes $8.6 million in permanent tax-exempt bonds; federal low-income housing tax credits that generated 

$5.7 million in equity; and an additional $2.7 million in subsidy from New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR). 

The New York State Office of Mental Health provided $8.5 million in capital funding and will also offer funding for the onsite supportive services.

CSD Housing, LLC, headquartered in suburban Rochester, in partnership with Central New York Services, Inc. developed the project, Cuomo’s office said. 

“We’re thrilled with the community’s response to Catherine Street,” John Warren, executive director of Central New York Services, said in the release. “The demand for this type of housing propelled us to begin construction on another building of the same concept on State Fair Boulevard, which is scheduled to open in 2020.” 

The four-story Catherine Street Apartments has 40 one-bedroom apartments and 10 two-bedroom apartments. Twenty apartments will be affordable to households earning at/or below 50 percent of the area median income, and 30 apartments will be affordable to households earning at/or below 60 percent of the area median income, per Cuomo’s office. 

Thirty apartments are reserved for individuals with mental-health diagnoses. Central New York Services will provide connections to supportive services for these households, including skill building and recovery-based case management. Most of the building’s units are occupied.

Building amenities include laundry facilities, common areas with kitchenettes, a seating area in the lobby, and outside landscaped areas. 

Since 2011, New York State Homes and Community Renewal says it has spent more than $95 million in Syracuse, creating or preserving affordable housing for more than 3,700 people, the release stated.

SYRACUSE — Officials have broken ground on a mixed-use development project called Salina 1st LLC, which is located at 1081 South Salina St., south of downtown Syracuse. 

More specifically, it’s located near the corner of South Salina Street and Burt Street. The project will include new mixed income residential units and commercial space, including light manufacturing, office, and retail space.

The property where crews will build the facility is a brownfield area, which will be mitigated to make way for the project, Empire State Development (ESD) announced in a May 22 news release. A brownfield is a property with environmental contamination.

The venture will include the development of close to 52,000 square feet of manufacturing, retail, office, and residential space. The total project cost is close to $6.8 million. ESD expects that crews will complete the project in the second quarter of 2021.

ESD is assisting the effort through a $1.3 million capital grant recommended by the Central New York Regional Economic Development Council. 

The development team is made up of Emanuel Henderson, owner of JHP Industrial Supply Co. of Syracuse; Eli Smith, owner of E Smith Contractors of Syracuse; and Gail Montplaisir, majority owner of Washington, D.C.–based Taurus Development Group, ESD said. 

In addition to the developers who will occupy some of the leasable space, the project will also include a new dental laboratory and incubator space, the agency added.

“This project shows the commitment of our team to invest in our community and supports our vision is to help build prosperity for all community members. Our children deserve to grow up in beautiful, livable and healthy neighborhoods. We are confident that this project will breathe new life into the Southside community,” Gail Montplaisir, majority owner of Taurus Development Group, said in the ESD release.

How developers met

Smith and Montplaisir met at the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Program at Babson College in Boston. “They bonded,” as both had backgrounds in construction and related fields, per a May 8 news release about the project. The release didn’t indicate when the Goldman Sachs event took place.

Smith eventually opened an office in Washington, D.C. and Montplaisir opened an office in Syracuse. 

Later, Smith, Emanuel Henderson, and Darin Price traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D–N.Y.) about contracting opportunities and programs necessary to support small businesses. The group also met with Montplaisir. Price is COO of Right Price Companies, located at 4726 S. Salina St. in Syracuse. 

After their meeting, Smith, Henderson, and Montplaisir decided to move forward together to create Salina 1st. The name is “intentional; it is time for Salina, South Salina, to be specific, to be 1st on the agenda. And now it is,” they contend.