Joint venture eyes $21.9 million rehab of Lincoln Alliance Building

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A joint venture between Rochester developer Patrick Dutton and Syracuse-based Franklin Properties LLC plans to buy and rehabilitate the Lincoln Alliance Building on East Main Street, city officials announced Tuesday.

Franklin Properties/Dutton plans to spend $21.9 million to convert the 15-story, 182,000-square-foot structure at 183 E. Main St. to 40,000 square feet of Class A office and commercial space, and 113 loft apartments, officials said.
 
The project is scheduled to begin this year and be completed in 2013. It will attract or retain some 140 workers at downtown businesses, and bring 160 new residents to the area, officials said.

Legislation was scheduled to be delivered Tuesday to City Council allowing the city to offer a $3 million, 30-month construction loan to the developer for gap financing until state and federal historic rehabilitation tax credits are offered, officials said.

The loan requires 17 of the residential units, or 15 percent of the 113 total, be affordable to households earning no more than 120 percent of the area median income for 10 years, officials said. Rents will range from $850 to $1,350 per month.

The Lincoln Alliance Building is a half-block away from the Midtown Plaza renovation project.

“The city and New York State investments in the Midtown Rochester Rising project are already paying dividends by sparking interest in the surrounding properties,” Rochester Mayor Thomas Richards said in a statement.

“That the Midtown activity has caught the attention of a developer who recognizes the value of this historic building is yet another bonus. This is a strong vote of confidence in Rochester’s downtown real estate market and a solid indicator of future investment in the center city.”

The building was designed in a Renaissance Revival style by the McKim, Mead and White architectural firm in association with Rochester architect J. Foster Warner, city officials said.

The building opened in 1926 as the Lincoln Alliance Bank, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, officials said.

Many of the historic interior and exterior features will be restored, officials said, with new mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems installed to provide efficient services.

The developer plans to return some 7,000 square feet of interior, mall-style retail space on the ground floor to street-oriented commercial space, officials said. The Class A office space will be on the second, third and fourth floors. The existing penthouse-level commercial space likely will remain.

Loft apartments will begin on the fifth floor.

Tax revenue from the property is projected to be $2.9 million over 20 years, nearly four times what it would be without the renovation and the tax abatement the developer will seek from the County of Monroe Industrial Development Agency, officials said.

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