Rochester council rejects developer's bid to remove five South Broadway properties from historic district

Council action and outcome The Rochester City Council voted on May 5 to deny a property owner's request to remove 309, 311, 313, 315 and 317 South Broadway from the city's landmark historic inventory, and later upheld the Heritage Preservation Commission's denial of a certificate of appropriateness for a proposed tower and two-story gym behind preserved facades. The motion to deny removal passed 5-2 after several hours of testimony; the subsequent appeal of the HPC decision was denied on the same 5-2 split.

What the owner proposed and why he said it was needed Developer Hal Henderson presented a plan that would retain storefront facades while demolishing and rebuilding the interiors and constructing a set-back, multistory student-housing tower with an interior gym. Henderson told council he has owned some of the buildings since 2017 and said rising taxes, low market rents and costly maintenance make the current building configuration economically unsustainable. He estimated restoring a single facade could…