Brian Sharp

@SharpRoc

Glazer and his team plan to return to city officials in a couple of weeks with a refined proposal



The Tower at Midtown is a %2459 million project%2C promising three floors of commercial space

Street-level retailers in The Tower could include Urban Outfitters%2C LA Fitness and Bar Louie

A two-story addition along Broad Street was designed with a grocery store in mind

Though he has yet to close on financing for the Midtown Tower construction begun last month, developer Larry Glazer has designs on essentially the rest of the Midtown site with a movie theater, shops, more housing and a hotel.

The expanded concept, dubbed The Grove at Midtown, would incorporate the Tower into a larger "campus" development building on two other parcels immediately to the north and west. Glazer and his team presented the concept to city officials last month, and he said Friday that they plan to return in a couple of weeks with a more refined proposal.

"We are pretty far down this road, as far as getting (the proposal) where it needs to be," Glazer said.

The Tower at Midtown is a $59 million project, promising three floors of commercial space, 179 modern, pet-friendly apartments and, possibly, a rooftop dog park. Electrical, mechanical and some demolition work has begun as Glazer continues to work through final terms with his bank.

"I have my neck strung out about 92 million miles right now," he said, adding: "It could take me under if this thing fails."

The former shopping complex at the heart of downtown is today an 8.6-acre redevelopment site thus far anchored by the shell of the former tower and a new office building housing Windstream.

Combined with the Democrat and Chronicle Media Group taking the corner parcel at East Main and South Clinton, plans for The Grove — detailed in a redevelopment plan obtained by the Democrat and Chronicle — would leave just two other parcels. Both are on the east side of the site and either quite small or committed for parking.

Street-level retailers in The Tower could include Urban Outfitters, LA Fitness and Bar Louie, the plan shows. A two-story addition along Broad Street was designed with a grocery store in mind.

Glazer calls the $185 million cost attached to The Grove concept a "super rough estimate." Tenant names are shown "for example purposes only," but Glazer said they reflect the caliber of possible retailers with whom the team is talking. He anticipates having several letters of intent in a few weeks — not a commitment or contract, but proof that "it's not just me being crazy. It's other people thinking there is a real possibility here."

The central Midtown parcel extending to East Main Street would house large-scale retailers on the ground floor such as REI, the development plan shows, with a 10-screen movie theater and possible IMAX on the second level, and a 100-room hotel rising as high as 10 or 12 stories and possibly a 300-space parking garage either below ground or on floors three to five.

On the corner lot that used to house Wegmans, at Broad and South Clinton, there would be small- and large-scale retailers such as LaCoste and Steve Madden, creating a "street of shops" along a pedestrian mall area cutting between that building and The Tower. The concept shows second-floor retail, shown as a Nordstrom Rack, and 60 to 75 apartments on three floors above that.

A restaurant could locate in the pavilion on the southeast corner.

"The buzz surrounding Midtown is escalating," reads the plan's opening pitch, "and our team is ready to propel that momentum forward to transform the Midtown Block into a unified live-work-play environment that reinvigorates the central business district and serves as a catalyst for success in all of downtown Rochester."

The Grove plan has Glazer's Buckingham Properties again teaming up with Morgan Management, the main partner on The Tower.

Mayor Lovely Warren liked what she has seen, so far, saying The Grove is a "great concept." But she wants to see more details, including a development timeline.

"We would want everything happening at the same time," Warren said.

Glazer said that is feasible, but many questions remain.

"A lot of people are waiting to see what happens," he said, "and they won't commit until they see progress."

Glazer owns the nearby Xerox tower and recently acquired the Bausch + Lomb building as well. Nearby, he also owns the St. Joseph's parking garage. But while Glazer is amassing considerable real estate interest in the area, he is mindful that downtown is a neighborhood and plans to talk with area property owners to make sure his vision is consistent with their plans for the future.

"The community has to get behind it," he said. "Everybody has to have the same vision and pull together."

Warren, meanwhile, has assembled an exploratory committee of city and outside officials to study possible alternate sites for a performing arts center and related construction costs. The city is seeking state funds for a feasibility study. Warren has envisioned such a theater at Midtown, which Glazer isn't ruling out.

There is no set deadline for the committee to report back, but Warren said the group is aiming to do so in 90 days.

Getting back to The Tower, it is not unheard of for a development to begin as the last financing details get locked down, city officials said. But Glazer said it is unusual for him. He is well into the process with M&T Bank, he said, but there are a number of conditions.

"It is not done yet, so we are very exposed on this right now," he said, saying alternately that he is confident it will get done and is "cautiously optimistic." "The problem is we needed to get it started, or we won't deliver space requirements that we have."

The city will not release the promised $6 million in Tower loans, nor can he receive other public assistance, until he does so.

BDSHARP@DemocratandChronicle.com

Twitter.com/sharproc

Includes reporting by staff writer Bennett Loudon.