WALSH POINTS TO MOMENTUM ON NEAR WESTSIDE

Public Private Involvement Benefits Neighbors, City and Region

(Syracuse, N.Y.)- In May, Congressman Walsh announced that the Near Westside Initiative would receive $2.25 million in federal funding through the Syracuse Neighborhood Initiative (SNI). Leveraging previous SNI investments of $3.47 million, these funds will be used to improve the Near Westside neighborhood for acquisition, renovations and limited demolitions to provide affordable opportunities for homeownership.

This September, Syracuse University announced that it has received approval from the New York State Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR) and Empire State Development Corp. to reinvest a $13.8 million loan repayment -- the remaining sum SU borrowed from the state in 1987 for construction of the campus Center for Science & Technology -- in the Near Westside Initiative Inc.'s efforts to create the Syracuse Arts, Technology & Design Quarter.

The $13.8 million will be used to acquire and renovate abandoned warehouses and properties on Syracuse's Near Westside and attract artists and technologists to those properties. The funds will also allow SU's UPSTATE: A Center for Design, Research and Real Estate to provide world-class urban redesign services to this effort and the Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems to incubate new green technology businesses and jobs for the area.

In addition, the City of Syracuse has announced it will submit a grant application to the state's Restore New York's Communities Initiative for an additional $10 million in funding for the Near Westside Initiative to: help WCNY construct a new broadcast and education center on a vacant parcel at the corner of West and Marcellus streets; rehabilitate two vacant or underutilized turn-of-the-century warehouses (the CASE Supply and Lincoln Supply buildings) into mixed-use commercial/residential facilities; and construct or rehabilitate 31 units of affordable "green" housing for current and future city residents in a several-block area located around Blodgett School and Skiddy Park and extending eastward to the Arts, Technology & Design Quarter developments.

Walsh said he is pleased to see an increased focus on this neighborhood. 

"This decision will make the Near Westside a more vibrant place for residents, the city and the region," says Congressman Jim Walsh. "These combined community efforts will build upon those being made through the Syracuse Neighborhood Initiative, which are focusing on housing and home ownership in that area. Together, this critical mass has the potential to tie together a resurgent Downtown with other revitalized neighborhoods throughout Syracuse."

For more information on the Near Westside Initiative go to:

 http://sunews.syr.edu/story_details.cfm?id=4341
 

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