B-Roll, Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Announces Significant Progress for $130 Million Affordable Housing and Mixed-Use Development Project at Former[...]

Governor Kathy Hochul today announced continued progress toward the $130 million transformation of the 600,000 square-foot Syracuse Developmental Center into a vibrant, mixed-use hub in the city of Syracuse. With demolition work completed at the 800-2 S. Wilbur Avenue site, developers are making way for more than 260 new affordable apartments as part of the first phase of construction. The entire three-phase plan to redevelop the site could eventually include over 500 units of affordable and market rate apartments and townhomes, 7.5 acres of green space, an advanced manufacturing facility with office space, and 3,600 square-feet of retail commercial space. The project will increase the region's housing supply to help prepare for the arrival of Micron, whose $100 billion commitment to build a new campus in the Town of Clay will create 50,000 new jobs over the next 20 years and establish a regional job hub to help grow the local economy.

B-ROLL of the Governor signing a beam at the Syracuse Development Center construction site can be found on YouTube and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format.

VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.

PHOTOS: The Governor's Flickr page will post photos of the event here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Hello, my friends from Syracuse. Delighted to be here once again. Okay, anybody that thinks it's hot, we've been here in blizzards, okay? What would you prefer? And I spent four years going to college during blizzards, so I'll take this any day so stop whining.

First of all, you'll be hearing from our great Mayor, Sharon Owens, who's been an amazing partner of mine, so delighted to work with her. We have Chris Albanese, the President of Albanese Organization, you heard. Someone you may know a little bit, my Director of the New York State Canal Corporation, former Mayor Ben Walsh. RuthAnne Visnauskas, the most visionary person we have in the entire country when it comes to building housing, our Commissioner of Housing and Community Renewal. Let's give her a round of applause. Kevin Younis, the Executive Deputy Commissioner of ESD. Kevin was a huge driver behind the Micron project, always grateful to have Kevin here. My partners in government, Assemblymember Bill Magnarelli, Assemblymember Pamela Hunter, Assemblymember Al Stirpe, and all of our elected officials here today. Let's give them a collective round of applause.

Syracuse, I always say, warms my heart, but today it's really hot, but it has a special place in my heart. As you know, I cut my teeth in this community. I learned all about advocacy and standing up for people and fighting for what I believe in as a student government representative here in Syracuse. And I worked at the Varsity Pizzeria, and I did a lot of crazy things, and I still make really good pizza, just so you know. I just want everybody to know. But it also was a place where my father told me when I was deciding which college to go to, he said, "Syracuse, I believe, is a place where anything is possible." And I still believe that is true. Syracuse is a place where anything is possible.

And so, that brings us to this site. Two years ago I stood here with the Mayor, then Mayor, and we looked at this symbol of neglect, 600,000 square feet, a sprawling complex had been sitting vacant since 1998. I bet half of you aren't even that old, right? Yeah. For nearly three decades this facility mocked the neighborhood. This is a great neighborhood, it's a vibrant neighborhood. I knew all about it as a college student. Don't say I just went to the Irish pubs, because I didn't. But, you know, the blight and the hopelessness was so evident to people that sometimes a physical structure like this can make a community feel like they don't matter, and my view is they truly do matter, and that's why I wanted to send a message here as well that they could do better.

And now that the demolition is complete, that this was an idea that we talked about with the Mayor, I'm like, "If they could have state resources, what are the possibilities on this very site?" So to come back here after a fairly short time in the scheme of government projects, the demolition is complete, remediation, remediation is complete and now construction's beginning on the first phase of what'll become one of the most transformational housing projects here in Central New York.

To start, we'll have 261 units of affordable housing, green space, opportunity, development, economic development, in conjunction with this, and just rising up from a site that literally weighed down this community for a generation. So after 30 years of decay, it'll become its own community, a place where people can gather and share stories and build memories and build lives. And I'm so excited about this. And again I do believe that the Mayor, Mayor Walsh did an extraordinary job in bringing this to us, but also fighting so hard for it, and all the city elected officials who fought for this, the state elected officials who fought for this. I remember sitting down having a cup of coffee with him once, and he says, "I want to show you this site. I have a vision." I was like, "Wow, this guy dreams big." But as do I. So we listened and invested $29 million along with over $100 million in financing and support to make it all happen.

And I also want to acknowledge something else in this community: The road around this development is being named for Officer Michael Jensen, a Syracuse police officer, a son of Tipperary Hill taken from us at the young age of 29 back in 2024. And I was at his funeral, and you always sit there and think of how, how does someone like this, how does their memory endure? How do we keep it alive? And I think this is a really extraordinary way to make sure that everybody who comes to this community will know the name of Officer Jensen and what he stood for. So he dedicated himself to lifting people up, lifting communities up so this community is going to keep growing stronger, and people will know his name as a result. So I'm really proud of that as well.

And also, I've been here, as I mentioned, at his funeral in moments of grief, but also times of great celebration, and extraordinary opportunities, as I mentioned briefly, Micron. And I cannot believe what is happening there. It is amazing. The company's doing well for all those who said, "It's not happening. It never happens. It never happens, all these promises." I knew it would happen, and it's happening. In fact, they'll have over 3,000 employees out of the 50,000 next year alone already.

I'm in regular communication with the CEO who tells me we are ahead right now. We're moving ahead quickly, but even maybe ahead of schedule, right Kevin? Ahead of schedule four months. Say that louder. Four months ahead. Four months. Anybody who didn't believe this was happening, four months ahead of schedule. And also, tearing down the I-81 viaduct. It's coming down. It's coming down, and in its place, since you know I love housing, 1,400 units of housing in the place of that structure that divided the community. I saw it as a college student, I never understood why this is here separating the city, vibrant neighborhoods from the college campus, and I look forward to working with Mayor Owens on that as well, getting that done, and realizing the vision of this community. Again, a vision too long delayed, but finally coming to reality.

So we're going to keep fighting and building more housing. We've got RuthAnne Visnauskas, almost 5,000 affordable homes we've built just since I've been Governor. And I will say this: We're not just building for the Micron workers, but we are, we're building it for the people who grew up here, for the first responders, the people who work in our schools and our hospitals and our businesses, the families who grew up here but never had a place to call home. And as our communities start to get more priced out, this is a challenge we have all over upstate New York, all over upstate. One thing upstate was known for was affordable housing. I remember there were lists that show some of the most affordable housing - not affordable housing, but affordable places to live - were always Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, on national lists. And all of a sudden, the people stopped building. The supply wasn't there. You know what happens? Demand was high, supply was low, and prices went up. So people are literally being priced out of a community that they always imagined they would live in. How could they not be able to buy a home in the place that they grew up in and they want to raise their own children there? And we have to stop that dynamic in its tracks.

So I've made changes. I've had a major fight in the Legislature, but got it done with their support to change laws that'll break down some of the red tape. Some of the laws like SEQR that I know from my 14 years in local government was the main reason you could stop a project because people could let it go through the environmental review, do it all right, do it all right, but then you take it to a judge, a sympathetic judge, and all of a sudden a project that was going to bring promise and opportunity to the community is dead on arrival, and I am tired of that. I'm tired of projects dying on the vine. We can no longer let that happen.

I need to build more housing and that sense of urgency is what's driving us now because we know this project is going to add to the housing stock as well as the next phase and the next phase, and also to just everything we need to do in this entire region to support the dynamic growth that is unfolding before our very eyes. It's happening now, my friends.

So I'm going to continue focusing on this. But as I wrap up, I want to say - two years ago, this was a symbol of what's wrong with the community that let this lay vacant, never imagining the possibilities, never having the will, never having the connections, perhaps in Albany. But now you do, and that is making a huge difference and I could not be prouder to be here today with all of you who love and cherish this community the way I do, and say, "Let them build. This is happening. We finally got it done." Thank you very much, everybody who believed.

I was proud to partner with the last Mayor and really proud to partner with the new Mayor, who is carrying on that same vision, but also with her own special tenacity and spirit. I love working with this woman. She's dynamo. Let's welcome our Mayor, Mayor Sharon Owens.