David Andreatta

@david_andreatta

From almost any vantage point in Fairport these days, there are signs that this isn't your grandfather's village anymore.

The sights and sounds of hammers being swung, buzz saws slicing through wood and buildings going up are seemingly everywhere, and residents are greeting the growth with a mix of optimism for the future and some anxiety about letting go of the past.

"There are some who never want any change," said Mayor Fritz May. "They like things the way they are and don't envision moving forward. But other people see what's going on and get excited about what could happen."

There's perhaps no better place to observe the contrasting views right now than from inside Village Hair Designs, a salon at the four corners of Fairport, where customers can’t stop talking about the big green monster across the street.

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"It's too big," one customer said. "I think it's nice," said another.

The monster is the construction of a new residential and retail building at 92 Main St., the shell of which is wrapped in green insulation, and the size and scope of which villagers have never seen in the heart of their downtown.

At four stories and 52 feet tall, the building is second in height there only to the historic First Baptist Church of Fairport next door, which itself is being transformed into a 400-seat performing arts venue.

"In here, it's the biggest topic of conversation," said hair stylist Ryan Cotter, who runs the salon with his father, Kevin. "I've had to make it part of my material."

For months, villagers watched the building rise like a beanstalk, leaving many to wonder when it would ever stop. Many are excited by it, some dislike it and nearly everyone wants to know what it will be.

"Most of the locals that have been here all their lives don't like it," said Kevin Cotter, a fast-talking New Yorker who made Fairport home over 30 years ago. "The newcomers like it, they see the possibility. That's the God's honest truth."

Specifically, the building will be commercial storefronts at street level and house eight high-end apartments on its other floors that the developer, JB Sterling Co., is looking to rent for between $2,000 and $2,900 a month.

To Scott Winner, executive director of the Fairport Perinton Partnership for a Better Community, a nonprofit development organization, the building is something else.

"It's economic development, and we're by and large glad to have it," said Winner, whose organization is overseeing the church project.

While neighboring Pittsford has placed nearly its entire village on the national and state Registers of Historic Places in an effort to preserve that village's character, Fairport is embracing a facelift and investment.

Rising five stories on the Erie Canal in Fairport is a 48-unit condominium complex where units sell for $300,000 to $450,000. The residences have angered neighbors in single-family homes who for generations enjoyed an unfettered view of the water. Yet the developer and village officials claim half the units are already spoken for.

On nearby High Street, 71 senior residences are going up and an old commercial property is being converted into seven market-rate rental apartments. The dilapidated American Can Co. building on Parce Avenue was recently purchased for renovation. Infill housing, the addition of new housing units to an already approved subdivision, is peppering the village.

The residential and retail development on Main Street replaced a squat, one-story parish hall for the church next door. By summer, the green insulation will be replaced by stone and brick, and apartment balconies will overlook the sidewalk.

Jeff Seidel, president of JB Sterling, had initially planned to build to a height of 35 feet, but found the village’s design overlay district, adopted in 2007, required that his building be at least as tall as it was wide. It could have risen to 100 feet.

"I admit, that wouldn't have fit (with the village)," Seidel said. "It's going to look dynamite when it's done."

Across the street, next to the hair salon, the new Fairport Brewing Co. patio will be packed with patrons listening to live music, if the past two summers were any guide.

All of this development has strained the village’s planning and code enforcement departments. But it's a pressure welcomed by Village Manager Bryan White.

"The fact of the matter is, it's not 1950 anymore," White said. "You can still have Mayberry, I guess, if you want, but everyone has to realize that times change and environments change and the people coming in have different expectations."

David Andreatta is a Democrat and Chronicle columnist. He can be reached at dandreatta@gannett.com.