PAETEC's Arunas strikes strident tone on Midtown site
PAETEC Holding Corp. won't proceed with a downtown Rochester headquarters until the planning and funding of redevelopment of the Midtown site are solidified, Chief Executive Officer Arunas Chesonis said Wednesday.
"We don't put a shovel in the ground until the entire
site is set," Chesonis said. "We are not going to do
something half-baked."
Contractors are in the midst of asbestos removal to ready the 8.5-acre complex of buildings for partial demolition that would leave Midtown Tower and portions of the Seneca Building standing. PAETEC plans to incorporate part of the Seneca Building into its new headquarters on the northwest corner of the Midtown site.
The state has budgeted $55 million for the demolition.
Rochester Mayor Robert Duffy has said $90 million is needed to cover not only demolition but also property acquisition, relocation and infrastructure
improvements. During a news conference in Manhattan on
Wednesday where Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo introduced Duffy as his running mate, the mayor said state money for
Midtown has been held back because of Albany's
fiscal problems.
But, Duffy added, "I believe the seeds have been planted to move that project along and I see nothing taking that off track."
Developers David Christa and Robert Morgan have been chosen by the city to redevelop Midtown Tower primarily for residential use The city also is
contemplating saving the former Wegmans building in the complex if there is developer interest.
Chesonis said the public money for the project needs to be freed up and all the tentative plans finalized for PAETEC to fully commit.
"We are not going to do something until that site is done or there are contracts in place or funding in place," he said. "Same for Midtown Tower … if the funding is not in place to refurbish that tower the way Dave Christa and his colleagues want to do, we don't go."
City Hall officials did not return calls Wednesday for response to Chesonis, who previously had not been so adamant about wanting to see the pace of the Midtown project pick up.
"Arunas should say what he said with as loud a voice as possible," said Rochester Downtown Development Corp. President Heidi Zimmer-Meyer.
"There's no question we can't collectively develop the Midtown block without help from the state. It will require public/private partnership. We've known
that from the beginning.
"With the tremendous momentum we have on this block, we hope we can convince the state to shake this loose. But these are unusual times," she said.
Chesonis said his sense of urgency is due to the fact that his Perinton-based telecommunications company faces a lease expiration in a little more
than two years, and construction of a new headquarters is likely to take 18 to 24 months.
"If the site is not ready by the end of the year, it's going to impact our schedule," he said.
MDANEMAN@DemocratandChronicle.com
BDSHARP@DemocratandChronicle.com
