Why isn't Rochester's skyline a bit more impressive?
May 31—Dear Answer Man: Why can't Rochester encourage at least some developers to think tall? Verticality shows we have arrived, that we are a place to live and work. Well-designed and architecturally interesting towers can be important landmarks, giving Rochester its own unique skyline and character. Can Rochester get something that truly stands out among its dull downtown buildings? — Disappointed Dan.
Dear Disappointed,
It seems like you're asking for two things: height and pizzazz. Preferably in the same building.
Think New York City's Empire State Building or the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco, I assume. Well, don't expect something akin to the Burj Khalifa to be built on the old Post Bulletin site. That said, whatever replaces the old Post Bulletin building can only be an improvement.
Overall, I think you're being a bit hard on the Med City. First, many of our larger buildings are somewhat utilitarian. The Gonda Building, for example, is a clinical building meant for patient care. That said, considering the purpose, I think it's quite lovely.
Want more evidence of a quality skyline? The Plummer Building comes with bona fide 1920s Art Deco style. Broadway Plaza tops off at 29 stories tall. The space-age Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Building is both energy efficient and stylistically forward.
But for a bit more context, I reached out to Chris Osmundson, director at Onward Investors, to discuss why tall buildings are not a priority in Rochester.
Osmundson said it all comes down to the differences between Type III and Type I construction.
Type III — "lumber typically over a pre-cast concrete podium" — can only be built up to 75 feet, up to seven stories. Just one more story would require a different, and much more expensive, construction type.
Type I — post-tension concrete — can be build taller, but at a 35% increase in costs per floor. Examples of Type I construction in Rochester would be The Berkman. And while that building got built at 11 stories, it also came with $10.5 million in tax-increment financing funding.
Then there's the matter of rents. No one is probably going to pay the rents that would make such a tall building profitable — especially at today's construction prices — in Rochester.
"The taller projects that are working to get done or have gotten done in Rochester are trophy assets trying to command rents that they can only get from a small percentage of the population, and also need significant subsidy," Osmundson said.
So, dream all you like about a one-third scale model of the Taipei 101 tower (good luck building something so tall and heavy atop our karst geology) in downtown Rochester, but my guess is nothing in the next 10 years will top Broadway Plaza.
And, considering how I feel about Rochester's current skyline, Answer Man is OK with that.
Send questions to Answer Man at answerman@postbulletin.com .
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