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More downtown Rochester commercial space will convert to apartments
Excelsior Communities plans to convert three floors of commercial space into 30 new apartments at the Residences at the Columbus Building. (File photo by Kevin Oklobzija)
Excelsior Communities plans to convert three floors of commercial space into 30 new apartments at the Residences at the Columbus Building. (File photo by Kevin Oklobzija)
More downtown Rochester commercial space will convert to apartments
Listen to this articleThe new owner of the Columbus Building in downtown Rochester is planning to convert three floors of commercial space into more apartments.
In an application to the County of Monroe Industrial Development Agency (COMIDA), Excelsior Communities said it intends to increase the number of units at The Residences at the Columbus Building from 101 to 131 while also renovating the lobby and hallways and reopening the fitness club.
Renovation is expected to cost $7.924 million and the building owner is asking for $343,763 in sales tax and mortgage recording tax exemptions from COMIDA.
In the application for the tax incentives, Excelsior Communities said “the age and prior use of the property make conversion and modernization particularly costly” and that the tax savings will bridge the funding gap.
Much of the commercial space is empty and conversion to residential will “eliminate long-standing vacancies and breathe new life into one of Rochester’s historic structures, helping to strengthen the revitalization of the Center City neighborhood while providing much-needed quality housing in a prime downtown location.”
Built in 1929, the Columbus Building at 50 Chestnut St. was one of three multifamily properties acquired in September by Excelsior Communities from Daniel Elstein’s Trason Global Realty of Syracuse. The growing real estate investment firm also bought 88 on Elm and the Terminal Building.
Excelsior Communities’ ownership group of the Columbus Building has nine partners, with Sam Einhorn and Pinchus Einhorn together controlling 71.5 percent, the COMIDA filing shows.
Excelsior Communities owns just shy of 3,000 residential units across a dozen properties in the Greater Rochester Area and also has three apartment communities in Maryland.
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