ROCHESTER, N.Y. — WinnDevelopment and GDD Properties, in a public-private partnership with New York State, have broken ground on the $200 million redevelopment of The Sibley Building, located at the intersection of East Avenue and East Main Street in downtown Rochester.
The Sibley Building opened in 1868 as the city’s first department store, and earned a spot on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. The property will be rebranded as Sibley Square, with the name, logo and signage to be changed in the coming weeks.
The phased redevelopment will begin with the $100 million construction of 96 modern apartments on the ninth through 12th floors of the building. Phase I will also include the addition of boutique retail, local artisan foodservice tenants, office space and active senior living apartments, as well as a complete rehabilitation of the façade and windows of the property.
The residential components of the building will be named The Lofts at Sibley and The Residences at Sibley. Leases for active adult units at The Residences will be available by the end of this year.
Redevelopment of the top floor of the building, once home to the Tea Room of the Sibley Department Store, is already underway. Once completed, the floor will become the headquarters for High Tech Rochester’s Finger Lakes Business Accelerator Cooperative, an incubator for high-tech start-up companies. The incubator expects to generate more than 1,000 new jobs within its first five years of operation.
“We are thrilled to take this leap forward in a project that will restore energy and economic development to the region’s most beloved building,” says Gilbert Winn, chief executive officer at WinnCompanies. “With Class A office space and luxury apartments, the new Sibley Building is transforming into the innovative center for office, retail and housing while maintaining its historic character.”
John Rogers of Pyramid Brokerage is in charge of retail and office leasing for the project, with 75,000 square feet of retail and 400,000 square feet of office space currently available.
An estimated completion date for the redevelopment has not been announced.
— Katie Sloan