David Riley

@rilzd

Plans for a high-end apartment complex and a riverfront promenade in downtown Rochester are butting up against concerns about how the project will affect the city's abandoned subway, a magnet for street artists and urban explorers.

The intertwined plans call for $32 million in private development by Morgan Management and the creation of a public walkway and pedestrian bridge at Court Street and South Avenue. Backers say the projects can bring new life to what is now a prime, underused corner of the eastern riverfront.

But critics are circulating a petition at savethesubway.com that argues the projects will permanently harm the subway and former Erie Canal bed — a place uniquely important to the city's history, arts and culture.

Their central concern: That the plans would likely eliminate a yawning entrance to the former subway off South Avenue. While officials don't formally sanction exploring the tunnel most of the year, this is how many people access it.

The debate has gained attention in large part because City Council will vote Thursday on whether to pay up to $250,000 to architecture and engineering firm Bergmann Associates for work on the walkway, known as the Promenade at Erie Harbor. That's in addition to $480,000 approved in 2012.

Mayor Lovely Warren submitted the legislation, but both the promenade and development plans predate her term as mayor.

Morgan also seeks about $4.4 million in tax breaks from the County of Monroe Industrial Development Agency, or COMIDA. A discussion on the project was scheduled last Tuesday, but canceled because of the snowstorm.

Here's a closer look at what is planned and what may happen next.

What has Morgan proposed?

Morgan's plans call for 119 "class A" apartments and about 5,000 square feet of first-floor commercial space, said Kevin Morgan, vice president at Morgan Management.

Apartments would have one or two bedrooms. No commercial tenant has been lined up yet.

The building, called Rivers Edge, would be three stories along the riverfront and five stories along Court Street, adjacent to Dinosaur Bar-B-Que.

A key piece of the development calls for underground parking. Morgan said Friday his company is still finalizing the garage's size, but opponents' concerns center partly on whether portions of the old subway bed will make way for private parking.

The project would have no effect on the Broad Street aqueduct, a separate and highly visible section of the former subway and Erie Canal bed.

Morgan's building has been in the works for about three years.

“We’re hoping that we are in a position to break ground sometime in late spring, early summer,” Morgan said. The project is expected to take up to 20 months to complete.

Morgan's firm is a major force in local development and is involved in projects at the Hyatt Regency Rochester hotel, the former Midtown Tower, high-end apartments on East Avenue and a rental complex behind the George Eastman Museum, among others.

What are the city's plans for a promenade?

The city adopted a plan for this corner of the Genesee River waterfront known as Erie Harbor Park back in 2010.

The plan said that a mix of city officials, businesses, advocacy groups and the public favored private development and publicly-funded improvements along the riverfront.

The report compared the concept to the Corn Hill and Brooks landings on the west side of the river. This spot also had "potential to be a valuable community asset," the report said.

Plans include a public promenade along the Johnson and Seymour Raceway, an extension of the Genesee Riverway Trail, a pedestrian bridge to Court Street, interpretive signs, benches and bike racks.

Among other public work on the site, the plan called for removal of the elevated road structure leading to the former subway and gating off the tunnel entrance.

Warren's legislation said because the promenade site is directly next to Morgan's project, the developer and city want to build them at the same time. Morgan said his company will build the promenade.

A current budget for the promenade was not immediately available Friday.

Why are opponents upset?

Critics argue that the development will partially destroy or at least restrict access to the eastern side of what is in effect an open-air street art museum that could be a bigger attraction.

Backers of the online petition, which has more than 1,800 signatures, say the images on the subway walls are the ever-evolving work of graffiti artists from across the globe and draw fans from far beyond Rochester.

"These are the Picassos and the Dalis and Jackson Pollocks of our time," said a painter who goes by the pseudonym Thievin' Stephen. Few street artists give out their real names.

While homeless people take refuge in the tunnel, graffiti artists say they also see a steady stream of casual explorers, even parents with baby strollers — foot traffic they believe the city could capitalize on.

The petition calls for the subway to become a public park and be protected from private development. Separately, there has been a push to convert the Broad Street aqueduct into a two-story passageway with shops and restaurants, but the idea hasn't been funded.

The development has the potential to limit or put an end to other ideas to reuse the tunnel, including a longtime idea to strip off the roadway above the former canal bed, refill it with water and link the restored waterway to the Genesee River.

Mike Governale runs rochestersubway.com, a website inspired by the tunnel and its history. He said Friday he's torn about the plans — he doesn't oppose the development, but also thinks the city should find a way to preserve the tunnel as a public space.

That said, despite years of talk about reusing the subway, no serious plan or champion has emerged, Governale said.

“It is a world-class space down there," he said.

Now what?

Morgan declined to comment on criticism of his company's plans.

“I don’t really have anything to do with the subway," he said. "That’s the city’s property.”

Critics plan to urge City Council on Thursday to halt the projects.

Councilman Matthew Haag heads the parks and public works committee, which advanced the legislation to the full council. The promenade is intended to increase public access to the waterfront, he said.

But Haag said he's since heard more concern that there isn't enough of a comprehensive plan for the subway or for balancing competing interests in it. That's given him pause.

“It is something that I do think we need to address," he said. "I could see why people would be concerned.”

Speakers who sign up advance will start to address council at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.

No new meeting date has been posted for COMIDA to review Morgan's request for tax breaks.

DRILEY@Gannett.com