Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren has announced that the city is issuing a newrequest for proposalsfor development of what is known as Parcel 5, at the old Midtown Plaza site downtown.
The city had issued a request for proposals in January, but Warren says they didn't get a lot of interest at that time.
With word recently about proposals for a casino and a performing arts center, the mayor says that's now generated interest from other proposals, so the city wants to make sure it opens up the process to see who's interested.
Warren says the objectives for the site include ideas that will boost the downtown economy.
“Those that generate jobs in our center city, proposals that do not require a lot of public support, those that make our center city vibrant and would help to support an increased investment around it.”
“I love a performing arts center and I think that in order to be competitive with other performing arts centers around our sister cities that it would be great to have one, but I’m also realistic in the fact that a performing arts center that needs significant public support may not be the best thing for our community and that’s why I’m open to it,” Warren told WXXI News.
An organization called A Better Rochester which is opposed to a downtown casino calls the city’s new RFP statement “a sham,” claiming that the RFP was “tailor-made” for the Seneca Indian Nation to build a casino and performing arts center. The statement maintains that the city can get a theater built without “adding to the misery of poor residents and detracting from downtown’s development boom.”
Developer Tom Wilmot, one of the founders of A Better Rochester, has offered to partner with the city on a standalone theater without a casino.
According to the statement from the group, Wilmot will not be participating in the RFP process.
A Better Rochester is a nonprofit organization made up of a coalition of individuals, businesses and groups opposed to a casino in downtown Rochester. It was founded by Delaware North, OTB and Del Lago Resort and Casino. Delaware North is the owner of Finger Lakes Gaming & Racetrack. Wilmot is the developer of the Lago resort in Seneca County.
The deadline for the proposals is July 15th.
