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As the article points out, some of the reasons UO chose Armory Square is due to the concentration of college students from SU and LeMoyne; ongoing residential development in and around downtown; additional office workers coming to Armory Square (though it is negated the loss of Excellus on Warren Street, just two blocks away); and the expansion at St. Josephs Hospital; etc.
I would like to add that there are students and faculty from SUNY Upstate and ESF that were not mentioned. Also, OCC is becoming a major academic institution that will contribute to the diveristy of Syracuse's economy.
My only concern is how will many of these potential patrons travel to Armory Square, especially when a national retailer is used to high traffic. The new Ithaca store is concentrated in the downtown area, but is a compact walkable city.
The article mentions the Connective Corridor which will extend from the SU hill to downtown. Hopefully there will be convenient transit along the corridor to this destination, meaning frequent headways. Outside of large metros, there is a stigma to mass transit with frequent service to and from popular destinations. Fortunately, many students and faculty will come from cities like NYC and Boston which have extensive transit systems.
Should Urban Outfitters prove to be a success, watch for other retailers to locate downtown. Cosidering the demographic of the Armory Square and downtown area, it makes sense for other retailers like Barnes & Noble or a Borders; Whole Foods (hint hint); Trader Joes (hint hint); GAP; Old Navy, etc to locate in (or around) Armory Square. There is plenty of vacant space along Saling or Warren Streets that they can take advantage of. Huge retailers locating downtown will lift all boats downtown, most notibly local downtown retailers. Yet, I can hear the local yokals screaming and complain about these retail giants.
When Urban Outfitters arrives next year (hopefully, we have been down this road before), I would watch for a "destination corridor" to develop from Armory Square to Franklin Square along Franklin Street that could easily tie into the SU Connective Corridor initiative. I envision the Dinasaur BBQ acting as the nexus between the two neighborhoods.
My only other concern is Stephanie Miner (huh, you say?), her anti-development; obstructionist record could prove to be a detriment to further success in Armory Square or downtown. If you recall she almost sabotaged the Jefferson Clinton Condominium project which is almost complete. She says she is protecting the taxpayers. Well there are fewer and fewer taxpayers to protect in the City Ms. Miner. If your obstructionist mentality were working, more people would move into the City, they want development. Othere cities are providing tax incentives, Syracsue needs to play ball!!!!
As the article points out, some of the reasons UO chose Armory Square is due to the concentration of college students from SU and LeMoyne; ongoing residential development in and around downtown; additional office workers coming to Armory Square (though it is negated the loss of Excellus on Warren Street, just two blocks away); and the expansion at St. Josephs Hospital; etc.
I would like to add that there are students and faculty from SUNY Upstate and ESF that were not mentioned. Also, OCC is becoming a major academic institution that will contribute to the diveristy of Syracuse's economy.
My only concern is how will many of these potential patrons travel to Armory Square, especially when a national retailer is used to high traffic. The new Ithaca store is concentrated in the downtown area, but is a compact walkable city.
The article mentions the Connective Corridor which will extend from the SU hill to downtown. Hopefully there will be convenient transit along the corridor to this destination, meaning frequent headways. Outside of large metros, there is a stigma to mass transit with frequent service to and from popular destinations. Fortunately, many students and faculty will come from cities like NYC and Boston which have extensive transit systems.
Should Urban Outfitters prove to be a success, watch for other retailers to locate downtown. Cosidering the demographic of the Armory Square and downtown area, it makes sense for other retailers like Barnes & Noble or a Borders; Whole Foods (hint hint); Trader Joes (hint hint); GAP; Old Navy, etc to locate in (or around) Armory Square. There is plenty of vacant space along Saling or Warren Streets that they can take advantage of. Huge retailers locating downtown will lift all boats downtown, most notibly local downtown retailers. Yet, I can hear the local yokals screaming and complain about these retail giants.
When Urban Outfitters arrives next year (hopefully, we have been down this road before), I would watch for a "destination corridor" to develop from Armory Square to Franklin Square along Franklin Street that could easily tie into the SU Connective Corridor initiative. I envision the Dinasaur BBQ acting as the nexus between the two neighborhoods.
My only other concern is Stephanie Miner (huh, you say?), her anti-development; obstructionist record could prove to be a detriment to further success in Armory Square or downtown. If you recall she almost sabotaged the Jefferson Clinton Condominium project which is almost complete. She says she is protecting the taxpayers. Well there are fewer and fewer taxpayers to protect in the City Ms. Miner. If your obstructionist mentality were working, more people would move into the City, they want development. Othere cities are providing tax incentives, Syracsue needs to play ball!!!!
Excellent post! I agree with your assessment of Miner. She would much rather Armory Square be filled with stores popular with her bitter, working class constituency that bemoans anything upscale or trendy. I could see Stephanie stipulating that any future development include stores targeting the lower socio-economic spectrum (ie. Rent-A-Center, Jackson Hewitt, etc) possibly a wig store. The biggest obstacle standing in the way of downtown's success will be the next mayor who will be under considerable pressure from activist groups demanding low income housing and retailers targeting the poor. This populist anger was palpable during the democratic primary when longshot candidate Alfonso Davis was simmering the pot.
In any event, the addition of Urban Outfitters is excellent news for Syracuse and downtown in particular. Syracuse will be the only major upstate city with an Urban Outfitters in its downtown.
As the article points out, some of the reasons UO chose Armory Square is due to the concentration of college students from SU and LeMoyne; ongoing residential development in and around downtown; additional office workers coming to Armory Square (though it is negated the loss of Excellus on Warren Street, just two blocks away); and the expansion at St. Josephs Hospital; etc.
I would like to add that there are students and faculty from SUNY Upstate and ESF that were not mentioned. Also, OCC is becoming a major academic institution that will contribute to the diveristy of Syracuse's economy.
My only concern is how will many of these potential patrons travel to Armory Square, especially when a national retailer is used to high traffic. The new Ithaca store is concentrated in the downtown area, but is a compact walkable city.
The article mentions the Connective Corridor which will extend from the SU hill to downtown. Hopefully there will be convenient transit along the corridor to this destination, meaning frequent headways. Outside of large metros, there is a stigma to mass transit with frequent service to and from popular destinations. Fortunately, many students and faculty will come from cities like NYC and Boston which have extensive transit systems.
Should Urban Outfitters prove to be a success, watch for other retailers to locate downtown. Cosidering the demographic of the Armory Square and downtown area, it makes sense for other retailers like Barnes & Noble or a Borders; Whole Foods (hint hint); Trader Joes (hint hint); GAP; Old Navy, etc to locate in (or around) Armory Square. There is plenty of vacant space along Saling or Warren Streets that they can take advantage of. Huge retailers locating downtown will lift all boats downtown, most notibly local downtown retailers. Yet, I can hear the local yokals screaming and complain about these retail giants.
When Urban Outfitters arrives next year (hopefully, we have been down this road before), I would watch for a "destination corridor" to develop from Armory Square to Franklin Square along Franklin Street that could easily tie into the SU Connective Corridor initiative. I envision the Dinasaur BBQ acting as the nexus between the two neighborhoods.
My only other concern is Stephanie Miner (huh, you say?), her anti-development; obstructionist record could prove to be a detriment to further success in Armory Square or downtown. If you recall she almost sabotaged the Jefferson Clinton Condominium project which is almost complete. She says she is protecting the taxpayers. Well there are fewer and fewer taxpayers to protect in the City Ms. Miner. If your obstructionist mentality were working, more people would move into the City, they want development. Othere cities are providing tax incentives, Syracsue needs to play ball!!!!
As a person that works at the nearby Warehouse, many students take advantage of the Connective Corridor Bus to come to the Warehouse and to Armory Square. It runs currently until 2:30 AM too. So, I think the bus would aid in getting students Downtown, like it has been. Many use that bus just to go to the Bars and Restaurants there already and it's free for students.
RR - Ithaca landed a Urban Outfitter downtown as well, not a "major city" though. It acts like one, which is more important. I am really frightened by Miner, I can see four years of a complete economic drought in Syracuse. Developers and investors are not going to deal with her arrogance. I know people think I do not like her, but she is well known for her arrogance. All one has to do is talk to Bea Gonzalez who was very candid about her reasons for not supporting Miner. The bitterness just steams to the top with Miner, you can see it. Driscoll is not the brightest tack in the box and can be stubborn himself, but Miner exudes bitterness and contempt for private development. I hope I am wrong, but I do not think so.
Have you ever actually talked with her? I highly doubt it. Everyone makes these assumptions about Miner because that is the way she is portrayed in the newspaper. She has supported several development projects during her tenure on the Common Counsil. She got the "anti-development" tag when she opposed giving so much tax money to the Destiny project which, in the end, turned out to be prudent judgement. I think there should be a limit to the amount of tax money and tax breaks that are handed out to developers, especially if their projects are questionable to begin with, and I am glad at least someone is looking at these proposals with a critical eye.
CUPlanner - I am not making assumptions, it is clear that her reputation is quite abrasive. There are those in the Democratic Party that endorsed her out of party loyalty, but there is not "love" loss with Ms. Miner. She was wrong on Destiny USA. The current delay is not of her making, but she wastes no time distorting the truth. She is quick to blame Congel.
The reality is, Citi is reneaging on its commitment to the expansion project. To be fair, major banks are doing this across the country. Had Ms. Miner and Mayor Dumbscoll refrained from continuous legal nonsense, the project would have been under way by now and would have avoided the recent financial crisis.
Ms. Miner is also claiming that she is being criticized for being a woman, which is bull. Tell that one to Bea Gonzalez who has been very candid about Ms. Miner, along with Joe Nicolletti. Yes, Joe did endorse Ms. Miner, I can only say out of party loyalty. Also, Joanie Mahoney is doing a great job and deserves credit for consolidation and taking a far more environmental approach to the lake clean-up.
You claim that she has supported several development projects, which ones? Did she support them before she opposed them?
Urbanplanner, look at Acknight's post, there are two major examples among others which I am not currently going to take the time to look up and remember.
And she was not absolutely wrong about Destiny. Yes, the project has multiple economic benefits at face value. Yes, the project has stalled because of financing issues which were not forseen at the time of approval. However, it has been a well known fact that Mr. Congel and Pyramid have made a living building projects with a very significant amount of government money and tax breaks from the City of Syracuse (see Franklin and Armory Squares for example). The existing tax breaks excluding Destiny were already costing the city a great deal of tax revenue, money which could have been going to badly needed capital improvement projects and the schools, as it did and does in Dewitt with the Shoppingtown Mall, Cicero with the Great Northern Mall, and Fayetteville with the Fayetteville Mall (now Town Center). In addition, his projects have always been highly leveraged, usually as compensation for unclear demand for the proposed projects and his unwillingness to risk his own captial on such risky ventures. Furthermore, Pyramid's lease structures have typically been Triple or Quadruple-Net, meaning that the rents businesses pay for his buildings are very high because they include almost all of the expenses associated with operating them. As such, his properties have had high tenant turnovers in many cases and have been inaccessible to many small, local businesses whose success is key to a strong, robust regional economy. So, yes Destiny has many benefits, but it also has many shortcomings which were the reasons for Miner's opposition.
Regardless of Miner's position on Destiny and other projects that got her negative press, I believe she is the right person for the job because she is the most well educated and the most intelligent candidate in the field and she is the one that will fight the most for the best interests of her constituents, as her opposition to said projects showed. As a city we want to develope high-value assets and attract and retain businesses with growth potential. We also want to improve the quality of life for all residents, not just the upper class. Otherwise, the city will always have that seedy underbelly that is oft discussed on these forums. Therefore, we cannot have our elected officials just signing off on any project that comes along; not all growth, especially physical growth (buildings, malls, etc.), is good growth. Proposals need to be reviewed to make sure that they are in line with those over-arching goals of the city and are part of the solution, not just more of the same old, same old. as such, I can see the reasons for her opposition and respect her commitment to her position. Just because you put up some building downtown or in the Inner Harbor does not mean that there is proven demand for it or that it will bring benefits to the city and its residents.
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