Retrofit Atlas

Malls · New York

Midtown Plaza

From the authors' mapRedevelopedRegreenedReinhabitedPartly retrofittedRochester, NY

Opened 1962. Closed 2008. Partial Redeveloped · Regreened · Reinhabited in 2005.

Status nowPartly retrofittedauthors' map
What it becamehousing, office, retail, parkextracted, unreviewed
Last sale$5.9M · 2000public reporting
Retrofit year2005authors' map
Rail within 800 mNo · Opportunity ZoneOpenStreetMap, HUD
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Solid = from the authors' map · outlined = public source · dashed = model-written, not yet reviewed by a person. Tap any value's source label to see where it came from.

Midtown Plaza
Midtown Plaza. Photo: User:LtPowers, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons.

Site profile17 elements · what this retrofit is built with · tap a chip for the evidence

Ownership
Public bodyThis site: City of Rochester county-parcels · all sites with this
Place
15-minute neighbourhood (5+ of 6 daily needs within 800 m)This site: 6/6 openstreetmap · all sites with this
200+ tax-credit housing units within 1 kmThis site: 1,260 units in 12 properties hud-lihtc · all sites with this
3+ other atlas sites within 10 kmThis site: 5 within 10 km computed · all sites with this
Bike network nearbyThis site: 233 ways openstreetmap · all sites with this
Grocery within 800 mThis site: 8 stores openstreetmap · all sites with this
National Register place within 500 mThis site: Cox Building; Edwards Building nps-nrhp · all sites with this
Opportunity ZoneThis site: 36055009400 hud-oz · all sites with this
Renter-majority tractThis site: 80% census-acs · all sites with this
Strategy
RedevelopedThis site: Partial reinhabitation: residential Partial redevelopment: office mixed-use Partial regreening: park and street grid arcgis-webmap · all sites with this
RegreenedThis site: Partial reinhabitation: residential Partial redevelopment: office mixed-use Partial regreening: park and street grid arcgis-webmap · all sites with this
ReinhabitedThis site: Partial reinhabitation: residential Partial redevelopment: office mixed-use Partial regreening: park and street grid arcgis-webmap · all sites with this
New use
HousingThis site: Partial reinhabitation: residential Partial redevelopment: office mixed-use Partial regreen extraction · all sites with this
Mixed useThis site: …reinhabitation: residential Partial redevelopment: office mixed-use Partial regreening: park and street grid The building inc extraction · all sites with this
OfficeThis site: …artial reinhabitation: residential Partial redevelopment: office mixed-use Partial regreening: park and street grid The bu extraction · all sites with this
Park and open spaceThis site: …rtial redevelopment: office mixed-use Partial regreening: park and street grid The building includes first-floor retail, C extraction · all sites with this
Retail (continued)This site: …ing: park and street grid The building includes first-floor retail, Class A office space on the second and third floors, and a extraction · all sites with this

All elements and lists · Trends

From the authors' map

NY, Rochester: Midtown Plaza/Midtown Rising, 2005
• Partial reinhabitation: residential
• Partial redevelopment: office mixed-use
• Partial regreening: park and street grid

Now

StatusPartly retrofittedauthors' map
StrategyPartial Redeveloped · Regreened · Reinhabitedauthors' map
New useshousing, office, retail, parkextracted, unreviewed
What is there nowPartial reinhabitation: residential Partial redevelopment: office mixed-use Partial regreening: park and street gridauthors' map
Retrofit year2005authors' map
RedeveloperBuckingham Propertiesextracted, unreviewed

Planning

Entitlement year2017extracted, unreviewed
Planning notesThe building includes first-floor retail, Class A office space on the second and third floors, and a mix of housing on the remaining floors.extracted, unreviewed

Deals and debt

DateEventPricePartiesSource
2000Sold$5.9M closedcity of Rochester ← Peter Arnold · lender unknownWikipedia

Securitised debt and public filers

Filings (2001 to date) that name “Midtown Plaza” and “Rochester” (39 hits, first 39 sampled, 8 other filers such as tenants left out). No commercial-mortgage trust names this mall in the sample, which does not rule out a securitised loan. Text matches, not a title search. Open the search · all trusts.

KindFilerFilingsDatesForms
Public owner (weak)Sterling Real Estate Trust112017-03-15 to 2026-03-1110-K 10, 10-K/A 1
Public owner (weak)AIMCO PROPERTIES LP62003-03-25 to 2010-02-2610-K 6
Public owner (weak)APARTMENT INVESTMENT & MANAGEMENT CO (AIV)62003-03-07 to 2010-02-2610-K 6
Public owner (weak)HOME PROPERTIES INC32003-10-29 to 2004-03-108-K 2, 10-K 1

Site context

FEMA flood zoneX · AREA OF MINIMAL FLOOD HAZARDFEMA NFHL
EPA-regulated facilities within 500 m37: AIRFLOW CATALYST SYSTEMS INC; APEX COMMODITIES INC; BANK OF AMERICA; BARIS TAILORING; CERTAINTY ANALYTICAL LABSEPA FRS
Census tract 360550094022,137 people, 7,671 per sq mi; median household income $70,758; median gross rent $1,237; 80% renters; 16.6% vacant units; 1.1% commute by transitACS 2023 5-year
Within a 10–15 minute walk (800 m)6 of 6 daily needs: 8 grocers, 3 schools, 32 parks or playgrounds, 2 health, 8 civic, 61 food and drink; 233 cycleway segments, 580 sidewalk-tagged segmentsOpenStreetMap
Opportunity Zoneyes, tract 36055009400 (rural)HUD
National Register places within 500 m15: Cox Building; Edwards Building; National Company Building; Granite BuildingNPS
Housing permits, Monroe County (NY), 2024553 units in 5+ unit buildings, 141 in 2–4, 462 single-family; 2023: 512 in 5+Census BPS
Social vulnerability (CDC SVI 2022, tract)overall percentile 0.28; socioeconomic 0.24; housing and transport 0.65; 19% below 150% of poverty; 24% of households with no vehicleCDC/ATSDR
Other atlas sites nearby5 within 10 km, 7 within 25 km: Irondequoit Mall (5.5 km); Medley Centre (5.5 km); The Marketplace Mall (8.3 km); Greece Towne Mall (9.1 km); Long Ridge Mall (9.1 km)computed
Overture Mapsno place match; building footprint 6,380 m², 15.466809272766113 mOverture (CDLA-Permissive 2.0)
Tract change 2013–2023tract boundary changed between the 2010 and 2020 census; no 2013 comparisonCensus ACS
Natural hazard risk (FEMA National Risk Index, tract)very low overall (score 18.9); expected annual loss $595,211; community resilience very highFEMA NRI
Tax-credit housing within 1 km12 LIHTC properties, 1,260 units: Andrews Terrace (526 units); Southview Towers (193 units); Lofts At Sibley Square (104 units)HUD LIHTC
Retail trade in the county, 2012 to 20232,190 establishments (-7%); 39,658 jobs (-3%)Census CBP
Housing market in the countytypical home value $285,680 (+5% 1 yr, +42% 5 yr); typical rent $1,515/mo (+3% 1 yr), 2026-09Zillow Research
Traffic on the busiest road within 600 m (2024)7,769 vehicles a day on NY31 Monroe Ave to Ramp 0I490014313C; 310 trucks; 40 counted segmentsFHWA HPMS

Similar sites

  • Turfland Mall, Lexington, KY · Malls · opened 1967; closed 2008; same strategy: regreen, reinhabit
  • Main Place Mall, Buffalo, NY · Malls · opened 1968; same strategy: reinhabit; also in NY
  • University Mall, Little Rock, AR · Malls · opened 1967; closed 2007; same strategy: redevelop
  • Crossroads Mall, Boulder, CO · Malls · opened 1963; closed 2004; same strategy: redevelop

Elsewhere on the web

Retail history: Midtown Plaza on DeadMalls.com photos, field notes and visitor memories since 2000; matched by name and city; nothing copied here

Pages with photos

Search images: Google · Bing · Commons · references: ULI case studies · Google Scholar

Multifamily screen

  • retrofit already built
  • housing in the record
  • public owner

Inputs: record fields (size, status) and county Census ACS 2018–2023 figures (growth, rent). How the points work. Not a recommendation.

History and original facts

Now called / also known asMidtown Rising
Opened1962extracted, unreviewed
Closed2008extracted, unreviewed
Original developerGilbert J.C. McCurdy and Maurice F. Formanextracted, unreviewed
ArchitectVictor Gruen
AnchorsMcCurdy's, Forman's
CountyMonroe County
Census division2 · Mid-Atlantic

Not yet recorded: acres, GLA. Know it? Tell us.

Background

Midtown Plaza is a city district in downtown Rochester, New York. The site was originally occupied by an indoor shopping mall designed by Victor Gruen and opened in 1962. Although it was primarily promoted as a retail space, Gruen's vision was for the plaza to function as an all-purpose community space to revitalize the downtown area. The original mall was closed in 2008 after a decline in retail activity and partially demolished. Since 2010 the site has been redeveloped with new buildings and an open lot known as Parcel 5.

Excerpt from Wikipedia (authors and history), CC BY-SA 4.0. May be older than the record above.

Timeline

  1. 1956 Discussions begin between McCurdy's and Forman's owners about creating an indoor shopping center
  2. 1958 Midtown Plaza venture announced
  3. 1962 Plaza opened
  4. 1994 Anchor stores McCurdy's and Forman's close
  5. 2000 Placed in chapter 11 bankruptcy and sold to city
  6. 2005 Retrofit: redevelop, reinhabit, regreen
  7. 2008 Plaza closed to public
  8. 2010 Demolition begins
  9. 2011 Tower sold to Buckingham Properties
  10. 2017 City selects proposal for Parcel 5
  11. 2021 Parcel 5 converted to green space

Sources

  • Wikipedia: Midtown Plaza (Rochester, New York) · supports: original developer, year closed, year opened
    13 quoted sentences
    Designed by Victor Gruen, the plaza was opened before on April 10, 1962, before a crowd of 5,000.
    The plaza closed to the public on July 25, 2008.
    The idea for Midtown Plaza started with discussions between Gilbert J.C. McCurdy, owner of the McCurdy's department stores, and Maurice F. Forman, owner of the B. Forman Co. department stores, in 1956.
    The idea for Midtown Plaza started with discussions between Gilbert J.C. McCurdy, owner of the McCurdy's department stores, and Maurice F. Forman, owner of the B. Forman Co. department stores, in 1956.
  • Retrofitting Suburbia Interactive Mall Map (ArcGIS web map ce33ab26…) · 2021-01-20

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