With $1 million, the City of Syracuse is transforming a dark, unwelcoming alley into a pedestrian destination.

“This is going to go a long way toward making it really an enjoyable place, not just for the residents, but for anyone visiting,” said Lisa Romeo, director of communications for the Downtown Committee of Syracuse, about the ongoing plans for Bank Street, which runs parallel between South Warren and South Salina streets.

By late October or early November, the city plans to introduce outdoor furniture, planters and LED lighting to the alley, said Ben Walsh, deputy commissioner of neighborhood and business development. The one-way street will also be repaved to include curves that will dissuade speeding.

Construction on the street, which is in between East Fayette and East Jefferson streets, is currently underway. He said the rest of the alley, between East Fayette and East Washington streets, is slated for an update after this winter.

The project marks a major change for Bank Street, which has stood dark and uninviting for years, he said, even after a city ordinance in 2011 effectively removed the dumpsters lining the street. The new look will complement the extensive development currently taking place in the area.

Romeo, of the Downtown Committee of Syracuse, said the area nearest to Bank Street— the 200, 300, and 400 blocks of South Salina and South Warren streets — currently claims more than $51 million in investment. More than $282 million is being spent on development in downtown Syracuse as a whole, she continued.

Redevelopment projects in the buildings along Bank Street have brought the entrances of 16 residential units to the alley, Romeo said. The Syracuse Media Group, located in the Merchant Commons buildings, is the only business with an entrance on the alley.

While Romeo said the reconstruction was primarily a beautification effort — emphasizing the safety of downtown as a whole — Walsh additionally noted some health and safety concerns for the business owners and residents in regular contact with the alley.

Bank Street had the “problems you’d associate with a dark, dank alley with lots of dumpsters,” he said, noting that people tended to hang out in the area or use it as a bathroom. “It wasn’t a place where you would typically want to find yourself.”

Walsh said both the recent development, as well as a need to replace the sewer line under the alley after a major April 2011 storm, played a major role in terms of timing.

What Walsh described as phase one of the project — replacement of the sewer line and introduction of green infrastructure through a trench drain — was completed in fall 2012. This phase was primarily funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and cost approximately $430,000.

Other funders of the approximately $1.1 million project, he said, include National Grid with $250,000; the Syracuse Industrial Development Agency with $225,000; New York State with about $93,000; and Onondaga County with about $108,000, particularly for use toward green infrastructure.

Don Lemp, president of M. Lemp Jewelers, which sits beside Bank Street, said he has supported the beautification project from the beginning.

“A neighborhood has to look like a neighborhood,” he said. “To have an alleyway in the middle of the neighborhood doesn’t create that neighborhood feel.”

Bank Street’s “rejuvenation” is a positive reflection of the development downtown, he continued. In his 35 years with a business founded in 1890, he said he’s seen a lot of ups and downs in the area.

“From where it was 10 years ago, I didn’t think I’d live long enough to see it happening,” Lemp said. “What I’ve seen happening in the last two or three years has been amazing. Nothing short of amazing.”

Published on September 11, 2013 at 2:35 am