Port of Rochester Marina project breaks ground

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Someday, Charlotte Beach will no longer be known as the beach with a parking lot.

If all goes according to plan, the Port of Rochester will have hundreds of new housing units, businesses and a marina with room for nearly 160 slips. Instead of a hot summer spot for a few months out of the year, planners are hopeful the area where the Genesee River and Lake Ontario meet will be a year-round destination.

A meeting earlier this week drew more than 100 Charlotte residents, many of whom shared concerns about a $20 million project that is expected to bring all those ideas to fruition, but also enthusiasm for the potential for economic development and to beautify the area, said Kathy Strauss, a member of the Team Charlotte citizens group.

Although the project in several different forms has been in planning and approval stages for more than six decades, the future started Nov. 14 with a ground-breaking ceremony.

“This is awesome for Charlotte. This is awesome for the city of Rochester,” Strauss said. “This is a start.”

Pike Construction Co., which also recently re-purposed the Seneca Building for Windstream Corp.’s new office downtown, will be constructing a deep-draft marina basin accommodating 85 slips right away as part of the first phase of the project.

Construction on the marina is expected to be completed in 2015.

The city is reviewing proposals for private development and is expected to select a developer for the private portion of the project by the end of the year, according to project manager Mark Gregor. That involves housing and commercial uses on nearly 3 acres of city-owned land between Portside Drive and Corrigan Street.

Anywhere from $89 million to $133 million in private investment is expect as a result of the project, as well as 300 permanent jobs and 2,500 construction jobs, Gregor said.

“This is a very big deal. It will happen over several years — we’ll see change happening here I would guess for 15 to 20 years,” Gregor said. “A lot of it will start as a result of this marina.”

Over time, a public promenade will be built around the new marina, which will be west of the Port of Rochester Ferry Terminal Building.

The project involved federal, state and county funding as well as proceeds from the sale of the Hemlock and Canadice lakes watershed to the state and the city’s capital improvement program. The funding is in place, which means the project can start and finish, said Mayor Thomas S. Richards.

“The project represents a long-term investment into making Charlotte stronger,” Richards said.

The project also builds on waterfront projects upriver, including improvements in High Falls and Corn Hill Landing, said state Sen. Joe Robach, R-Greece.

“This is a continuum of projects that is really using this gem we have and polishing it so more people can use it,” Robach said.