[RocTX]

It's not a big project by most standards, but it's a pretty big deal for a city that doesn't get much attention on this page. The new PAETEC Tower is slated to be 17 stories.

Midtown Plaza to come down; PAETEC to come downtown


Matthew Daneman
Staff writer

(October 16, 2007) — Gov. Eliot Spitzer announced this afternoon that Midtown Plaza will be the world headquarters for PAETEC Communications and that , when completed, the company will bring its 600 workers downtown as part of his Rebuilding the Upstate Economy City by City plan.

The city will acquire the 10-acre property and the state will spend up to $50 million to demolish the complex and get it "shovel-ready" for the PAETEC move. The new 500,000 square foot building would be able to house 1,000 employees.



Here are additional project details from the same article. The project could include as many as five other buildings:


Midtown Plaza

The City of Rochester, PAETEC Communications and Empire State Development (ESD) have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to begin the process of redeveloping Midtown Plaza into new mixed-use facilities, including a new corporate world headquarters for PAETEC Communications. Located in the commercial center of the City of Rochester, the 10-acre property encompasses a 17-story skyscraper and five other buildings, with approximately 1.5 million square-feet of retail and office space, and a three-level 1,843-space underground parking garage. The buildings on the property are substantially vacant, and the parking garage is underutilized.

Components of the project:
It is anticipated that the existing Midtown Plaza site would be initially divided into two parcels:

Phase I - PAETEC Parcel: PAETEC Communications plans to build a new 500,000 square foot, Class A facility on a portion of the Midtown property. The proposed PAETEC facility will house approximately 1200 employees (including 600 existing PAETEC employees) and become the new location for its corporate headquarters, data and other operations. PAETEC would design, engineer and construct the PAETEC building on a portion of the property.

Phase II: The City and ESD would develop the Phase II Development Parcels to include residential, retail, and commercial uses, which would conform with the PAETEC parcel and surrounding development strategies.