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Syracuse's jail could become new housing
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — Syracuse's Public Safety Building, located on State Street, is moving operations to the city's west side.
'This is a redevelopment of an existing building. So they started by gutting it, and they're building it from the inside basically,' said Michael Lehmann, deputy commissioner of Asset Management and Valuation for the city of Syracuse.
Located at 1153 West Fayette Street, the decades-old building was once used as a factory. But soon it will be the new home to Syracuse Police and Syracuse Fire.
'It's essentially a surplus asset that we're moving to 1153, consolidating all of our operations that are there,' said Michael Oja, commissioner of assessment for the city of Syracuse.
Construction on the vacant building began in December and has come a long way.
'I was there last week, and you can see a lot of great progress. Different elements, such as the floors, the ceilings, and the windows, are a bit later, but if you go in there, you need a hard hat,' said Lehmann.
It's still unknown what the city's current Public Safety Building (PSB) will be used for once police and fire move to their new location.
'I think we might be able to redevelop in a really thoughtful way and also address the ongoing housing crisis, and we've had some good responses to the RFP that we put out that suggest a real market desire to redevelop,' said Oja.
Oja says the property represents a real estate opportunity.
'We've got about 170,000 square feet of space between the office tower and the old jail wing, I think a lot of respondents are hopeful that it could be repurposed,' said Oja.
Fire and police are expected to move into the renovated space as early as January of 2026.
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