After groundbreaking that started in May of last year, officials with the massive College Town project say they are ready to celebrate a grand opening.
The project involves retail, residential and office space off Mount Hope Avenue near the University of Rochester, and on October 17th, the ceremonies will mark the completion of the project and the opening of a new Barnes and Noble store.
Other stores and commercial buildings will keep opening up through next spring. The Chief Financial Officer for U of R, Ron Paprocki, says the university worked closely with the developer to make sure the quality of the construction and the types of businesses that open are kept at a high level.
"We’re not going to dictate, and we don't attempt to dictate, the specific individual tenants, but there are categories that are specified in our agreements with the developers that are excluded, but the developers have lots of latitude. "
One of the main developers is Fairmount Properties of Cleveland, and an official with that company, Randy Ruttenberg, says there has been high demand for the available commercial and residential properties.
"People like the fact that there's daytime traffic with office tenants, you've got a great neighborhood here so we've been very fortunate to have great interest in this project from day one."
Plans also call for using the College Town property for various events and programs that will help bring the community together.
