One year in, BCA Architects is pleased with its Syracuse office

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Plans expansion to double space SYRACUSE — One year after opening an office in Syracuse’s Armory Square area, BCA Architects & Engineers is already intending to expand its space by double. Watertown–based BCA in September 2024 opened a 2,400-square-foot Syracuse office on the ground floor of the Pomeroy Building at 225 West Jefferson St. It […]

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Plans expansion to double space

SYRACUSE — One year after opening an office in Syracuse’s Armory Square area, BCA Architects & Engineers is already intending to expand its space by double.

Watertown–based BCA in September 2024 opened a 2,400-square-foot Syracuse office on the ground floor of the Pomeroy Building at 225 West Jefferson St. It became the firm’s seventh New York state office after previous expansions into Ithaca (2014), Saratoga Springs (2016), Rochester (2020), Troy (2023), and Binghamton (2023) added to its Watertown main office.

Why open a Syracuse location?

“We’ve had our eye on opening an office in Syracuse for a number of years I would say. The main reason would be there’s so much going on, so much investment happening — it would be kind of foolish not to be here,” Travis Overton, CEO of BCA Architects & Engineers, says in a Sept. 5 interview with CNYBJ at the firm’s Syracuse office.

He continues, “We sort of had [Syracuse] surrounded. We had Rochester, the Capital Region, and then the Southern Tier with Ithaca and Binghamton. It really was just a matter of waiting for the right opportunity, the right person to sort of head it up. And those things came together.”

That right person was Taylor Woolf, who started with BCA Architects & Engineers as an intern, earned his architectural license, and worked his way up to become a firm shareholder.

“Taylor, we asked him, ‘Hey what do you think about Syracuse?,’ “ Overton explains. “He’s a younger guy, kind of an up and coming, emerging professional. He’s a go-getter… He’s got 20 ideas for every one we throw at him. He jumped at the chance.”

Without Woolf’s leadership, his eagerness, and ability to take on this responsibility, Overton adds that he’s not sure how BCA would have an office in Syracuse today.

BCA Architects & Engineers, which currently has eight employees in its Syracuse location and is growing, is pleased with how the office has performed in the first year.

“I don’t know what our expectations were coming into Syracuse but this has exceeded those,” Overton says. “Being able to find a place that was the right price, right size to start out with, right here in Armory Square was more than I think we could have asked for. If we could have drawn it up this is what we would have drawn up. It’s been perfect.”

So much so, that now BCA is looking to expand in the building within the next year and is talking with its landlord, Washington Street Partners, about taking the second-floor office space in the building when that becomes available. That space is the same size as its first-floor office, so it would double the firm’s square footage in the structure.

Overton concedes that Syracuse is a challenging and competitive market and that the firm has its work cut out for it in terms of signing up new clients in the area.

“As far as clients down here, we’re hoping to break into this market,” he says. “We’re a multi-disciplinary firm with engineering and architecture. We think we’ve got a good story to tell and a good product. We came down here to service this part of the state that much better.”

Overton notes that having the Syracuse location has allowed BCA to pursue a few requests for proposal that it would not have otherwise. The firm has also had its leadership team meet in Syracuse because it’s conveniently located between its various offices.

BCA’s full slate of disciplines include architecture; mechanical, electrical, plumbing engineering; civil engineering; landscape architecture; structural engineering; transportation & aviation engineering; and interior design.

The institutional markets it serves primarily are K-12 education, colleges and universities, municipal infrastructure, New York State government, health care, and regional aviation.

BCA Architects & Engineers has about 120 employees total across all its offices, including 65 at its headquarters location in Watertown, according to Overton. The firm has added about 40 employees in the last four years, boosting its headcount by 50 percent.

BCA has seen a surge of work in the K-12 market since the end of the COVID pandemic, and has also increased its work with the state government significantly. Now, Overton hopes to keep that going and he is optimistic about the role the Syracuse office will play in that growth.

Syracuse Adopt-a-Block program is a way for people to get involved

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SYRACUSE — The City of Syracuse’s Adopt-a-Block program, which is again in progress, is an initiative focused on trash and litter pick up across Syracuse neighborhoods. Syeisha Byrd, commissioner of the city’s Department of Parks, Recreation, & Youth Programs, describes Adopt-a-Block as a program that “encourages residents and neighbors to continue to keep their neighborhoods

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SYRACUSE — The City of Syracuse’s Adopt-a-Block program, which is again in progress, is an initiative focused on trash and litter pick up across Syracuse neighborhoods.

Syeisha Byrd, commissioner of the city’s Department of Parks, Recreation, & Youth Programs, describes Adopt-a-Block as a program that “encourages residents and neighbors to continue to keep their neighborhoods clean.”

Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh advises those interested in getting involved to go to the City of Syracuse website: syr.gov/adoptablock.

“You have to commit to two blocks. You can do either as an individual. You can do it with your employer. You can do it with your neighborhood with a block group,” the mayor said. “But again, the more people that we get involved, the less work there is for everyone, so it really is a community effort.”

The City of Syracuse held this year’s kickoff event at Homer Wheaton Park in May 14.

“Some of you may know that we have been working for the past couple years on a housing strategy, and one of our priority neighborhoods in right here in Salt Springs, and so we thought it was appropriate that we come here and help clean up a little bit,” Walsh said to open his remarks.

It’s a program that the city has promoted and encouraged since the late 2010s. The annual announcements have happened in the spring.

“This time of year, once the snow finally melts, is one of the more challenging times when it comes to little because it collects over the course of the winter and then presents itself once the snow melts,” Walsh said at the spring kickoff event.

He went on to say that various Syracuse organizations have clean-ups in relation to Earth Day in April and those involved “put a good dent in it,” referencing the accumulated trash from the winter season.

The city’s Department of Public Works and environmental-services team are out “literally daily” picking up litter, Walsh added.

The mayor also used the occasion to remind residents they can alert city crews to litter problems by using the City Line app.

“You can call City Line at 448-CITY or you can use our app, which you can download on your phone. You can take a picture of the litter. It’ll locate where you are through your phone and you can submit it and that’s flag it for our environmental services and they’ll put it on their list and they’ll come clean it up,” Walsh said.

“Ultimately, the reason why we developed this program is because keeping our city beautiful and clean, number one, needs to happen year round, and number two, needs to be a community-wide effort. There’s only so much that the City can do, but when we all are involved and work together, we can make an incredible impact,” he continued.

Syracuse Deputy Mayor Sharon Owens attended the event and helped with the morning cleanup around the park and Salt Springs neighborhood as well.

Walsh also said the Adopt-a-Block program has an “important component” relative to Onondaga County’s Save the Rain program. Litter that doesn’t get picked up often ends up in storm drains, which can end up in waterways, in Onondaga Creek, and eventually into Onondaga Lake.

“So, it isn’t just about keeping our city looking good, it’s about keeping our waterways clean and ultimately, keeping Onondaga Lake clean,” Walsh said in acknowledging Onondaga County’s interest in this program as well.

In her remarks, Onondaga County Legislator Nodesia Hernandez wanted to make sure that those gathered realize “how essential” the program is to Syracuse’s youth.

“Because our neighborhoods and our parks are where they play, where they grow up. These parks are their … community meetings, their hearings, their town halls,” Hernandez said. “This is where they connect and why not make sure that they connect in an environment that’s sustainable for their health, right? We have to remember that the litter it brings, you know, bacteria and disease, so I’m just grateful to be able to stand here today and to make sure that the water is also kept clean and healthy for them.”

VIEWPOINT: Meeting the Demand for Syracuse’s Resurgence

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One step at a time Syracuse is undergoing tremendous growth and revitalization — as evidenced by the flurry of construction activity around us today. Earlier this year, I announced the City of Syracuse Central Permit Office reported 2024 marked the highest permitted construction value in Syracuse history. The $413.5 million record includes both residential and

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One step at a time

Syracuse is undergoing tremendous growth and revitalization — as evidenced by the flurry of construction activity around us today. Earlier this year, I announced the City of Syracuse Central Permit Office reported 2024 marked the highest permitted construction value in Syracuse history. The $413.5 million record includes both residential and commercial-building permits and represents the projected value of construction work for permits requested annually.

This level of construction activity is possible because the city is making economic development a priority and providing the additional resources and incentives to support this growth. Our updated Zoning Ordinance gives us more flexible and modern standards for how land is used and developed in the city. With updates including increased density allowance, mixed-income housing requirements and more housing options, we can build stronger, more connected neighborhoods.

Additionally, major initiatives including the Syracuse Housing Strategy and Resurgent Neighborhoods Initiative are ensuring we are prioritizing housing policy and investments. Through these efforts, we are constructing new homes, supporting affordable housing, improving commercial corridors, and creating housing opportunities for current and future residents.

As our community evolves and new opportunities take shape, the City of Syracuse is committed to making sure local government keeps pace with what our community needs. That is why we are going digital with applications required to do work in the city. Just last month, the Central Permit Office migrated all residential and commercial permit applications to the city’s online application portal, making it easier for residents and businesses to access and apply for building and site permits.

The portal streamlines review approvals, while offering convenient 24-hour electronic access. Applicants can track their application status online, upload required documents, connect with City of Syracuse staff, and conveniently pay fees with a credit card. It serves homeowners making renovations, small-business owners opening storefronts, and the development community investing in Syracuse’s future.

This transition is about more than just convenience, and it’s only the beginning. Applications for business licenses, right-of-way, and zoning permits will all migrate online by the fall and winter of 2025.

Another way we are streamlining permit approvals is by bringing on third-party firms to perform plan reviews for code compliance. The Central Permit Office is working with these firms to shorten turnaround times for the city’s plan-review process, and applicants can also select to pay for an expedited review from outside firms to fit their specific needs.

The culmination of these efforts along with many other process changes and investments being made across city government come at a strategically critical moment. Our population is on the rise, Syracuse was recently named one of the top 25 best places to live in America, we are well underway on the massive $2.25 billion Interstate 81 Viaduct project that is transforming our city, and we’re at the epicenter of a resurgence that includes the [nearby] $100 billion Micron mega chip plant, the largest single economic investment in the history of New York state.

Syracuse is surging and after eight years serving this city, I am confident we are ready to meet the demand. Investment and construction are strong. Families can turn their vision for a better home into a reality. Local entrepreneurs can turn a dream into a thriving business. Developers looking to invest will be met with innovation and collaboration. And for Syracuse as a whole, we are seeing our vision — to be a growing city that embraces diversity and creates opportunity for all — become a reality.

Ben Walsh, 46, is the 54th Mayor of the City of Syracuse. The independent has served as mayor since Jan. 1, 2018 and will complete his second and final four-year term in office at the end of 2025.

Syracuse mayor unveils playground improvements at Skiddy Park on Near Westside

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SYRACUSE — Skiddy Park on Syracuse’s Near Westside is home to updated, accessible play equipment for children ages 2-12. The 2.75-acre neighborhood park is located at 300 Tioga St., in front of Syracuse STEM at Blodgett Middle School. The Skiddy Park playground surface & equipment retrofit project cost about $400,000, according to the City of

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Renovation of Hanover Square fountain to wrap by year’s end

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SYRACUSE — The effort to renovate the fountain in Hanover Square, which started back in mid-June, is ongoing and will continue through the fall. The City of Syracuse, Department of Parks, Recreation, & Youth Programs says the work area is at the intersection of Warren, Water, and East Genesee streets in the downtown area. The

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SYRACUSE — The effort to renovate the fountain in Hanover Square, which started back in mid-June, is ongoing and will continue through the fall.

The City of Syracuse, Department of Parks, Recreation, & Youth Programs says the work area is at the intersection of Warren, Water, and East Genesee streets in the downtown area.

The project “marks a significant step in revitalizing one of downtown Syracuse’s most historic and cherished public spaces,” the department said in its announcement.

Key improvements will include restoration of the original 1981 central fountain and water-circulation system. That work will maintain the waterspout and cascading water features.

In addition, the work includes installation of new lighting and mechanical infrastructure, enhanced landscaping and planting beds, and site accessibility repairs and pedestrian-circulation updates.

The project cost is about $1.5 million and QPK Design, LLP of Syracuse is the architect on this initiative. JMR Excavation of Skaneateles is the general contractor, Burns Bros Contractors of Syracuse is the plumbing contractor, and O’Connell Electric Company is the electrician, per the City of Syracuse Office of Communications.

“After feedback from stakeholders, the Landscape Architecture team at QPK Design developed a modern, resilient façade for the fountain, enhanced seating via integrated seat walls, new lighting and planting improvements,” according to a QPK Design website page providing details about the project.

“This project is a reinvestment in the cultural and architectural heart of downtown,” Syeisha Byrd, Department of Parks, Recreation, & Youth Programs commissioner, said in the announcement. “By restoring the fountain and introducing new features like lighting, seating, and sounds, we’re reinforcing Hanover Square as a destination and point of pride for Syracuse residents, businesses, and visitors.”

Construction will continue through late fall 2025 with work hours scheduled for weekdays from 7 a.m.-5 p.m. “with minimal disruption to surrounding businesses,” the department noted. West Genesee Street will remain accessible for emergency and pedestrian use throughout construction.

Five Iron Golf takes a swing at Syracuse market with downtown venue

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SYRACUSE — Onondaga County has long had many venues in its suburbs and rural communities where people can enjoy golf. Soon, Central New York golfers will be able to tee off year-round in the heart of downtown Syracuse. A franchise location of the Five Iron Golf chain of indoor golf simulators is slated to open

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A franchise location of the Five Iron Golf chain of indoor golf simulators is slated to open at the City Center building in December 2025 or January 2026.

Syracuse’s Five Iron Golf will be operated by Swing Project Erie, LLC, a franchisee that currently operates a Five Iron Golf location in Erie, Pennsylvania. The local franchise will be helmed by Erie–based partners Chase Rogan and Drew Whiting, along with local partner Jeremy Thurston, president of Hayner Hoyt Corp. Hayner Hoyt is the contractor of record, completing the build-out for the project.

According to Five Iron Golf’s corporate website, the Syracuse franchise is one of eight new developments that will be opening in the near future. The chain’s website lists 33 locations that are currently operating across the United States.

Partner Chase Rogan, a golf-course superintendent turned entrepreneur, describes Five Iron Golf as, “a mix of a golfer’s paradise and an entertainment venue tied into one.”

The Syracuse location, occupying 11,200 square feet with an expected staff of about 30 employees, will feature eight simulators, each of which allows up to six players to engage in a number of golf-related games and activities.

One option will be to play a game of golf at a virtual PGA Tour course like Pebble Beach. Rogan explains. “The simulators are perfect for golfers who want to work on their game or play a world-renowned golf course. The simulators have cameras on them that’ll record your swing and play it back for you. And then you get a ton of data about your swing path, your club path, your swing speed, all these different things that can help you improve your golf game. So, for the golfer, you can come in and play real golf there.”

There are also options for those who aren’t necessarily looking for detailed swing analytics or to simulate world-renowned courses. Rogan says, “For the person that’s just seeking a Friday night out, the golf simulators have games that are designed for beginners and non-golfers.”

Five Iron Golf Syracuse will also offer golf lessons and custom club fitting.

For non-golfers or those just looking to take a break from the links, there will also be a sports bar and duck-pin bowling lanes. Rogan says. “There’s that other piece of entertainment, the duck-pin bowling, that’s great for parties, corporate events, things like that, but it’s a piece of entertainment for people who aren’t interested in playing the golf.”

Rogan describes the future Five Iron Golf location as an option for birthday parties, corporate events, or draft parties. He says of his anticipated clientele, “I’d say our typical customer is the sports lover who likes active entertainment and is looking for something active to do. Typically, age 20 to 45 is kind of the target demographic, but we’re also a family establishment. We get a lot of families that come into our venue here in Erie. So, we’re looking for people who are interested in playing golf or just seeking out entertainment.”

Based on its success in Erie, Rogan is optimistic about the future of Five Iron Golf in Syracuse and upstate New York in general. Future locations in Rochester and Buffalo are also being considered.

“When we were kind of looking at the next site, I’d say Syracuse stood out just because of what’s happening with the [Micron] chip plant there and then the other construction that’s happening downtown,” Rogan says. “It seems like there’s a really, a lot of positive energy and positive things happening right now. A lot of good tailwinds behind the city.”

Latest phase of interior renovation work at Landmark Theatre now complete

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SYRACUSE — The work to restore the 97-year-old auditorium inside the Landmark Theatre is now complete with the latest Broadway in Syracuse season underway, starting with “Hamilton” from Sept. 9-21. The renovation work focused on the restoration of the proscenium (the arch that goes over the stage), the area between the proscenium and the balcony

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The renovation work focused on the restoration of the proscenium (the arch that goes over the stage), the area between the proscenium and the balcony rail, and then the balcony and the ceiling, Mike Intaglietta, executive director of the Landmark Theatre, told CNYBJ in an Aug. 21 phone interview.

“That area is lit naturally just by about one chandelier … so we’re going to be working on getting some lighting in there so that people can see all the work that we did because it is pretty spectacular,” he added.

The work on the project started after the completion of the run of “Beetlejuice” back in the spring.

John Tiedemann, Inc. of North Arlington, New Jersey is the contractor that worked on the Landmark’s auditorium renovations. The same firm handled work on both the Marriott Syracuse Downtown (the former Hotel Syracuse) and the interior of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in downtown Syracuse, per the Tiedemann website.

Jamie Williams from Holmes King Kallquist & Associates, Architects handled the design work on the project.

“The only thing that we have left to do is to reset the theatre, putting chairs back,” Intaglietta said in the interview.

This phase of the restoration project cost about $1.5 million, Intaglietta told CNYBJ.

This group of projects at the Landmark Theatre is board approved through a facility-improvement plan, he noted. The work started back in 2021 and included the replacement of the auditorium seating and marquee.

“We still need to address the areas under the balcony, so the orchestra level, as well as the very, very rear of the balcony … doesn’t require a huge mobilization of scaffolds,” he said.

In describing the work completed in the past few months, Intaglietta explained that crews cleaned the plaster, so they could identify the original colors of the theatre, which had been long covered up in tobacco residue. They also repaired the plaster where necessary.

“And this repair work requires making molds of existing work and then recasting the plaster work and then painting it all to match. In order to do that, we actually did a full repaint of the entire theatre,” he added.

Crews also took some steps to ensure that some areas that are frequently damaged had a little bit of extra protection, especially in the proscenium arch.

Intaglietta — who leads the nonprofit called Syracuse Area Landmark Theatre, which owns and operates the theatre — says the organization takes its responsibility to maintain, restore, and improve the theatre “very seriously.”

“This is the community’s theatre, and we’re just the stewards of it. We hope that everyone’s able to come down and see all the work that we’re doing and appreciate all the effort that has gone into both building and keeping the theatre active. It’s a wondrous, one-of-a-kind-place, and we want the community to be proud of it,” he said.

Redhouse has a new marquee, unveiled after honoring board member Hider

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SYRACUSE — It was a summer evening in mid-July when the Redhouse Arts Center formally unveiled its new marquee. The marquee’s lighting marked the first time in nearly 60 years that downtown Syracuse had two lit marquees on its main downtown strip, and the first brand new marquee on South Salina Street in more than

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SYRACUSE — It was a summer evening in mid-July when the Redhouse Arts Center formally unveiled its new marquee.

The marquee’s lighting marked the first time in nearly 60 years that downtown Syracuse had two lit marquees on its main downtown strip, and the first brand new marquee on South Salina Street in more than a century, according to the Redhouse.

“The whole point of this marquee is to tell people where we are,” Franklin Fry, executive director of the Redhouse Arts Center, said in his remarks at the July 15 event.

The Redhouse paid for the $125,000 marquee using funding sources that included a New York Main Street grant through the New York State Department of Homes and Community Renewal. The Central New York Community Foundation matched the state’s contribution, according to Fry.

Prior to the marquee lighting, the “Light the Town Red Soiree” event on July 15 included the presentation of the inaugural Redhouse Arts Center Lifetime Achievement Award presentation to long-time board member Bill Hider.

The Redhouse Arts Center is a nonprofit cultural and performing-arts organization that has presented dozens of performances at City Center at 400 S. Salina St. since 2018.

“I’m overwhelmed. So exciting seeing all of you here supporting the Red House and come out to see me win this award. It’s very touching. It’s very touching to see all the friends and family that came … I appreciate that,” Hider said in addressing the gathering inside the Redhouse Arts Center.

The organization says it was Hider who had the vision and leadership to move the Redhouse from a 90-seat walk-up theatre at 201 S. West Street to the 43,000-square-foot, multi-theatre performing-arts center that it is today.

The Redhouse says it became the anchor and original tenant in 2018 of a building complex that is now called City Center. The organization credits Hider’s vision that “helped give downtown Syracuse a fresh and vibrant place” that now draws more than 25,000 visitors annually.

The July 15 red-carpet fundraiser included cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, a silent auction, live music by Isaac Betters, vocalist Michael Ranalli, pianist Jimmy Cox, and The Cadleys.

“As Redhouse lights the first brand new Salina Street marquee in a century, we hope it serves as a beacon for our community. It will welcome and empower our local artists to bring forward their visions of our community for us all to see,” Fry said in the Redhouse Arts Center announcement.

To acknowledge the new marquee, several Syracuse city landmarks lit their buildings red in “solidarity with and celebration of” the Redhouse Arts Center. They included City Hall, City Center, Crouse Health, Loretto, National Grid, Barclay Damon, St Joseph’s Health, the gate and Exposition Center at the New York State Fairgrounds in the town of Geddes, and the Oncenter – ASM Global Syracuse.

And just up the street from the Redhouse, the Landmark Theatre, which the Redhouse describes as its “neighbor and elder Salina Street sibling,” also had its marquee lit in red.

Inner Harbor aquarium should be ready by mid-2026

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SYRACUSE — Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon says the Inner Harbor aquarium is set for completion in mid-2026. “This facility will be open in less than a year. The exterior of the facility will be likely completed at the end of this year and then the interior [work] will begin,” McMahon said in remarks at

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SYRACUSE — Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon says the Inner Harbor aquarium is set for completion in mid-2026.

“This facility will be open in less than a year. The exterior of the facility will be likely completed at the end of this year and then the interior [work] will begin,” McMahon said in remarks at an event on Aug. 13.

A spokesman for McMahon says C&S Engineers is the designer of record. The firm’s primary consultants are St. Louis, Missouri–based PGAV Destinations, which focused on aquarium concepts, exhibits, graphics, patron experience; Seattle, Washington–based MLA Engineering, which focused on aquatic concrete; Penfield, N.Y. –based Popli Design Group, which has an office in Syracuse and focused on the mechanical engineering component; TJP Engineering of Bend, Oregon, which focused on life-support systems; CME Associates, Inc. of DeWitt, which provided insight on the project’s geotechnical component.

“The aquarium, outside of telling [about] the cleanup [of] and the story of Onondaga Lake; the fresh-water story of New York State; and then certainly the saltwater exhibits that will really help attract people from all over New York and all over the Northeast and arguably the country, offers a unique opportunity for the arts and cultural industry,” McMahon said.

He was speaking at an event at Studio Central Post at 201 S. West St. in Syracuse announcing incentives for the future aquarium as a location for filmmakers.

It’s a $100 million project that still needs $6 million in fundraising, and McMahon told reporters he’s “extremely confident” that raising the funding “won’t be an issue.”

“We have commitments that are starting to come in, and we have naming-rights deals that are in the end stages of negotiations. And we have other economic partnerships that we’ll be announcing,” McMahon said. “We have little concern about filling the remainder of the $6 million … We’ll raise more than the $6 million and we’ll likely put some of that away to implement some of our educational programming.”

Film incentive

Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon (in red shirt) on Aug. 13 addressed reporters at Studio Central Post at 201 S. West St. in Syracuse, as he announced filming incentives for the upcoming Inner Harbor aquarium.
ERIC REINHARDT / CNYBJ

Any kind of film work that is conducted at the upcoming Inner Harbor aquarium will qualify for the Onondaga County local PRIMED tax credit.

PRIMED is short for the Onondaga County Production Rebate Incentives for Movies and Entertainment Development, per the website of CNY Arts. PRIMED is an incentive-based rebate program designed to support television, commercial advertising campaigns, and feature-film productions in Onondaga County.

PRIMED offers a 25-30 percent rebate, up to $300,000, on all qualified local expenditures in Onondaga County, CNY Arts said.

“Since 2021, PRIMED has generated over 100,000 labor hours for local crew,” Alexander Korman, executive director of CNY Arts, said in his remarks at the Aug. 13 event. “PRIMED has also generated over $8 million in direct economic impact right here in Onondaga County and adjacent sectors like hospitality, lodging, transportation.”

McMahon said Onondaga County also plans to work with Visit Syracuse and Eric Vinal, VP of film, TV & entertainment at Visit Syracuse, to get the upcoming aquarium, once complete, registered for the New York State film tax credits.

“We will work with our team at ZoOceanarium, who will be running the facility, in offering discounted rates to use the facility for production of film,” McMahon said.

Film production could be handled by companies such as American High, a local film-production studio, or even the nonprofit sector, such as WCNY, Syracuse University, and Le Moyne College.

The county executive made the Aug. 13 announcement at Studio Central Post at 201 S. West St. in Syracuse, noting that the county is “really excited about this.”

He went on to say that the aquarium will be open in less than a year. The facility’s exterior will be likely completed at the end of this year and then crews will begin the interior work.

“But we have amazing partners here that will be using this much more than people just coming in and seeing the exotic marine life that are there,” McMahon said.

Besides McMahon and Vinal, those attending the announcement included Danny Liedka, president and CEO of Visit Syracuse; Jeremy Garelick, founder and CEO of American High; Monte Young, co-founder and managing partner of Studio Central Post; Franklin Fry, executive director of Red House Arts Center; Alex Corman, executive director of CNY Arts; and Onondaga County Legislator Shawn Fiato.

Project history

The Onondaga County Legislature narrowly approved the project in a 9-8 vote during its meeting of Aug. 2, 2022. Like the legislators who voted against it, some segments of the community believed county officials could’ve spent that money on other matters, such as poverty in the Syracuse area.

But in the end the project was approved, following 10 months of debate about it after McMahon first announced the aquarium initiative in early October 2021.

The aquarium project is an expansion of the Rosamond Gifford Zoo, McMahon told local reporters following the county legislature’s vote. The project idea came from the Friends of the Zoo, he said. McMahon credited zoo officials, such as former executive director Ted Fox and his team, for their work in giving county officials “the confidence to undertake this [project].”

The county executive called the aquarium project a “tourism year-round asset … that we can sell.”

The aquarium project will also provide “unique opportunities” for the county to partner with its higher-education institutions and research, McMahon contends.

“It will provide great opportunities to tell one of the greatest stories we’ve had in our community with the cleanup of Onondaga Lake and its tributaries and work in the history of this lake and what it’s meant to our community and how for the first time in a generation what is happening around it as it becomes the epicenter for recreational and leisure activity once again,” he said.

Festivals give downtown revitalization a boost

Sports, Entertainment & Tourism, Subscriber Only

SYRACUSE — As the revitalization and growth of downtown Syracuse continues, festivals are providing a lift because they attract new visitors to downtown and showcase it, while increasing the urban-lifestyle amenities for those who call downtown home. Downtown festivals attract hundreds of thousands of attendees annually to Syracuse’s central business area, which provides a number

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Downtown festivals attract hundreds of thousands of attendees annually to Syracuse’s central business area, which provides a number of follow-on business and economic benefits.

The Syracuse Arts & Crafts Festival, held from July 25-27 in the Columbus Circle area of downtown, drew a crowd of 30,000 people this year, says Merike Treier, executive director of the Downtown Committee of Syracuse, Inc., which puts on that festival annually. Treier spoke with CNYBJ in an Aug. 25 phone interview and she credited the Downtown Committee’s pedestrian counting software for generating the crowd figure.

Throughout the weekend, attendees were able to shop and browse many contemporary arts and crafts, including ceramics, sculptures, photography, painting, woodwork, and jewelry.

Downtown Syracuse hosts about a 15 festivals each year, according to Treier. The biggest one is Taste of Syracuse, which was held this year from June 6-7 and is organized by the events arm of Galaxy Media. Taste of Syracuse — described by Galaxy as Central New York’s biggest food and music festival — attracted an estimated 200,000 people over two days.

Other key festivals drawing big crowds to downtown include the Polish Festival, held in Clinton Square this year from June 20-22; the Syracuse Irish Festival, hosted at Clinton Square Sept. 5-6; and Festa Italiana, held in front of Syracuse City Hall from Sept. 12-14.

The impact of festivals

These festivals play a critical role in downtown’s growth and renewal, says Treier.

“Festivals add to the quality of life that we can offer here in Syracuse and downtown Syracuse. They offer an opportunity to showcase the different assets that we have here – whether that’s arts and culture or people and cultures. The festivals provide a platform for celebration to take place,” she says.

Treier explains, “When [festivals] are taking place in downtown Syracuse, it’s a tremendous opportunity to bring people” into downtown’s central business district. “It helps them kind of explore and understand what there is to offer, while also providing that platform to celebrate our different cultures and art forms.”

And that translates into an economic boost.

“That is the hope, with the festivals and events bringing people into the downtown area, not only for that event but also to provide them with a reason or excuse to come into the downtown district,” Treier notes. “From there, the opportunity to discover a new restaurant they have not seen before… or learning about a new business, or museum that they have not known about before.”

Besides the well-known, established festivals, newer events are also making an impact. The 315 Thursdays Music Series attracted music fans to Hanover Square every Thursday in August and to the Westcott neighborhood of Syracuse every Thursday night in September. The series has become popular and developed quite a following, Treier says.

BabelFest is another emerging event. Put on by Redhouse Arts Center from Sept. 25-28, it was a free weekend of 11 “groundbreaking new plays that feature emerging voices and underrepresented perspectives,” according to the Redhouse.

“The more festivals that we have coming through our community is helping to highlight a lot of our different amenities that exist here and helping to establish Syracuse as a center for arts and culture in our region,” says Treier, who is also president of the Downtown Syracuse Foundation, Inc.

Helping in the effort to foster new and emerging festivals is the Syracuse Cultural Festivals Fund, which was established by the City of Syracuse government budget and is administered by the Downtown Syracuse Foundation on behalf of the city.

In the latest round, $135,000 in grants was available for festivals planned to be held between October 2025 and September 2026 and eligible for consideration. Applications for grant amounts between $3,000 and $10,000 per festival were considered and grant dollars are intended to support 501 (c)(3) and 501 (c)(4) nonprofit community groups in delivering celebratory events that focus on a particular theme. The events must be free for the public to attend (with no ticket purchase necessary), take place in public spaces, and offer entertainment and/or activities for attendees.

“Putting together and finding funding for festivals is a challenge. So to be able to help support nonprofits in delivering these events to the community was really important,” says Treier.

Success stories emerging from the Syracuse Cultural Festivals Fund include BabelFest. Another success example is the Syracuse Art Trail, a collaborative project between CNY Arts and local arts and culture organizations, held July 18-27 this year.

For the 2024 edition of the Syracuse Cultural Festivals Fund application process, 27 festivals across the city of Syracuse were allocated funding, says Treier. The 2025 grant process was in progress as this publication went to press.

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