SYRACUSE — More than 3,250 people currently live in downtown Syracuse. That’s up 40 percent in the last 10 years.

Factoring in projects currently underway and planned, the downtown area’s population will increase nearly 10 percent in the next two years.

That’s according to the Downtown Committee of Syracuse, Inc. which held its 10th annual Downtown Living Tour on May 21.

The Downtown Living Tour seeks to raise awareness of the development happening in Syracuse’s city center, says Merike Treier, executive director of the Downtown Committee of Syracuse, Inc.

“Often times people are not seeing new buildings going up, so they may be completely unaware of what’s happening on the upper floors of these buildings,” she noted.

About 3,200 people participated in the Downtown Living Tour with guidance from nearly 100 volunteers, according to Treier, who spoke with CNYBJ on May 24.

“We are still finalizing our numbers, but this was easily our biggest year yet,” she says.

This year’s tour made a dozen stops and included 10 “brand new to the tour” stops, including the Marriott Syracuse Downtown, which doesn’t have apartments for rent.

“It’s been such a noteworthy development in downtown that we wanted to be able to include the hotel as a tour stop,” says Treier.

Tour goers were able to see the hotel’s lobby area and Persian Terrace.

The event also included two additional bonus stops: the 538 Erie building on Erie Boulevard West and Fayette Place at 712 East Fayette St. in Syracuse.

The buildings on the tour are “places that either do currently have apartments available or will within the next several months,” says Treier.

The Downtown Committee’s data indicates downtown apartments have a 99 percent occupancy rate, and when they become available, they’re snapped up quickly, she adds.

Young professionals and employees of the area’s hospitals and colleges are helping drive the increased interest in downtown living.

Residential development accounts for more than 70 percent of the $400 million invested in the downtown area since 2010, according to the Downtown Committee.

Even as interest in living downtown rises, potential residents still have concerns. Tour attendees have traditionally asked volunteers about downtown crime and parking availability, says Treier. CNYBJ asked about the possibility of a grocery store in the downtown area, a question the organization also hears frequently from people attending the tours.

Grocery-store operators have told the Downtown Committee that the city center will need a residential population of close to 5,000 for it to “make sense” to open a location.

That’s “one of the reasons that we promote residential development so heavily,” says Treier.

Tour stops
The May 21 Downtown Living Tour started on the ground floor of 110 Walton St., the tour headquarters and former home to the Hurbson Office Equipment Co. furniture warehouse and showroom. Crews are renovating the structure to include 14 one and two-bedroom apartments, along with a loft-style apartment and a penthouse for availability this July, the Downtown Committee said in a May 21 news release previewing the tour.

The tour then wound its way through occupied and available units throughout Armory, Clinton, and Cathedral Squares, along with South Salina Street, South Warren Street, and Hanover Square.

The stops included the 214 building, located at 214 W. Jefferson St., across from the Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science & Technology and Salina Place at 205 S. Salina St.

In the convention district, the tour included a stop at the Marriott Syracuse Downtown and a glimpse at the facility’s interior before it opens to the public for a “retirement party” for the Hotel Syracuse name next month.

In addition, the tour included a stop at Icon Tower at 344 S. Warren St., which is currently undergoing renovation work. It will be the home of 89 apartments when it opens in April 2017, the Downtown Committee said.

Attendees also visited One Clinton Square, located in the iconic Syracuse Savings Bank and Bank of America Building, which is expected to have apartments available in July, according to the Downtown Committee.

The tour also included a preview of Herald Commons at 220 Herald Place, which will bring 27 new apartments to a new neighborhood known as Herald Square, the Downtown Committee said.

Other stops included The Amos at 208 W. Water St., the Grange Building at 203 E. Water St., and Commonspace at 201 E. Jefferson St. in Syracuse (see separate story on Commonspace on p. 10 in this special report).

The Downtown Committee of Syracuse will use the proceeds from the Downtown Living Tour’s ticket sales to support its programs targeting the downtown area, says Treier.

Established in 1975, the Downtown Committee of Syracuse, Inc. is a private, nonprofit, downtown-management organization representing all property owners and tenants within the central business district.

The Downtown Committee “undertakes programs to improve downtown’s image, strengthen its economic base, increase its attractiveness, and assure that it’s clean, safe and accessible,” according to its website.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com