Projects to redevelop two historic downtown buildings getting money from New York state

New York state has awarded $5 million to two projects that will turn a pair of landmark buildings downtown into mixed-use developments.

The funding, announced Monday by Gov. Kathy Hochul, is part of more than $112.9 million being given to 70 projects — 10 of them in the Finger Lakes region — through the Restore New York Communities Initiative.

Administered by Empire State Development, the program is meant to encourage commercial investment, improve the local housing stock and put properties back on the tax rolls.

A project to redevelop the Sibley Triangle Building is getting $3 million.

Until a few months ago, the circa-1897 property on East Avenue at East Main Street downtown was home to a New York State Department of Health office, which moved to Henrietta.

Plans call for creating commercial and retail space on the ground floor and student apartments on the upper floors of the brick structure, which is set off by marble and limestone trim.

The developer is Angelo Ingrassia, whose other projects include Irondequoit’s Skyview on the Ridge, previously known as Medley Centre, and the former Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School campus in Rochester's Highland Park neighborhood.

Standing five stories, the flat iron-shaped building was designed by renowned Rochester architect J. Foster Warner for Hiram W. Sibley, a son of Hiram Sibley, the longtime Western Union Telegraph president.

Warner had just finished the ornate granite and marble Monroe County Courthouse (now the Monroe County Office Building) on West Main Street when Sibley commissioned him in 1896.

He employed much of the same Italian Renaissance style for the Sibley Triangle Building, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

The state is giving $2 million to the Four Corners Aqueduct Downtown Initiative, which includes renovating the Gannett Building at 55 Exchange Blvd. for residential and commercial uses, a project being led by Taylor, The Builders.

Constructed in 1927-28 for Gannett Co. founder Frank Gannett, 55 Exchange was designed in the Classical Revival style by Cleveland-based architecture firm Howell & Thomas. It was expanded in 1949, 1957 and 1977 and like the Sibley Triangle Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

It housed Gannett's corporate offices until they were relocated to Northern Virginia in 1986, its printing operation, which moved to Greece in 1997 and closed in April, and the Times-Union until it ceased publication in 1997. The building was home to the Democrat and Chronicle from 1959 to 2016, when the property was sold and the newsroom and business offices were moved to 245 E. Main St.

Outside the city, the town of Gates will get $2 million for the first phase of a project to demolish an airport-adjacent hotel at 911 Brooks Ave. to make way for future commercial development.

The village of Fairport will get $1 million for its Cannery Phase II project, which includes the adaptivereuse of vacant industrial and warehouse space and renovation of a 42,775-square-foot property to add offices, restaurants, retail and flex spaces.

The largest award for Finger Lakes region projects is going to Lyons, Wayne County, which will get nearly $6.6 million for improvements to its Canal District. The work includes demolition, deconstruction, reconstruction and rehabilitation of properties totaling 67,124 total square feet to build 37 residential units, 25 of which will meet affordable housing requirements.

Reporter Marcia Greenwood covers general assignments. Send story tips to mgreenwo@rocheste.gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @MarciaGreenwood.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Sibley Triangle Building project getting $3 million from NY state