Parkside Commons Redevelopment Hearing - January 22, 2026
Parkside Commons Redevelopment Hearing - January 22, 2026
On January 22, 2026, the Syracuse Common Council held a committee meeting to discuss a proposed 15-year shelter rent agreement (tax abatement) to support the redevelopment of Parkside Commons, a 393-unit Section 8 housing complex. The development team, BFC Partners and SAEVI, presented plans for a $220 million project involving gut renovation of the West Campus (200 units) and construction of two new buildings (193 units) on the East Campus, followed by demolition of the existing East Campus for future development. Council members raised concerns about security, maintenance, community engagement, and the need for transparency.
Discussion Items
- Presentation by Developers: Robert Sana (BFC Partners) and Connor Kenny (SAEVI) introduced their companies and outlined their experience. They described current conditions at Parkside Commons: deferred maintenance, crime, and security issues. They reported that since taking over in October 2024, they have doubled maintenance staff (from 6 to 12), reduced open work orders from 1,200 to 185 (with 335 completed in the last seven days), replaced all entrance doors, installed 351 security cameras, hired a full-time security director (Josiah Homan), and cleared 20 squatter units. They also described challenges with residents resisting security measures (e.g., cameras spray-painted, doors vandalized).
- Renovation and New Construction Plans: The West Campus will undergo extensive gut renovation including new roofs, windows, kitchens, bathrooms, heating/cooling systems (electric heat pumps), and landscaping. The East Campus will be replaced with two new buildings (Building A: 5 stories at former Patrician Bakery site; Building B: 4 stories at former Delhi site). Tenants will be relocated temporarily (about one month) to vacant units on site during renovations. The total unit count will remain 393 (one-for-one replacement). The project cost is $220 million, financed by $75 million from HCR (NYS Homes and Community Renewal) and $100 million from low-income housing tax credits. The shelter rent agreement would provide a stable PILOT payment, increasing annual taxes from $270,000–$330,000 to about $800,000.
- Council Concerns: Council members Monto, Caldwell, Jones Rouser, and others expressed skepticism about the pace of maintenance (e.g., heat and hot water issues, door locks not yet functional), questioned the timeline for community engagement, and emphasized the need for separate engagement with the distinct communities on the east side (lower east side vs. hilltop). They stressed that residents have been failed by previous owners and that transparency is critical. Council member Jones Rouser highlighted the importance of green space and not warehousing people. Council member Caldwell noted that the project is the second largest housing transformation in Syracuse after East Adams. Commissioner Michael Collins clarified that the project must maintain the same number of affordable units and that the new buildings must be completed before any demolition of the East Campus.
- Future Development: The developers indicated that they plan to engage the community on the future use of the East Campus site (potential for open space, retail, or affordable housing) after the current phase is complete, likely within two years. Council members urged that community engagement begin immediately, using community ambassadors and holding meetings at accessible locations.
Key Outcomes
- No vote was taken on the shelter rent agreement. The council requested that the developers return for further discussion and provide more detailed analytics on work orders and community engagement plans.
- The developers committed to holding a community engagement meeting in the first week of February 2026, with separate meetings for residents and neighboring property owners, and to continue monthly meetings going forward.
- The council emphasized that the project must proceed with robust community engagement, transparency, and accountability to ensure residents' trust and safety.
Meeting Transcript
Oh yes, I'm sorry. Uh Matt OJ was with the uh City of Syracuse Commission of Assessment. Robert Sana, I'm the director of preservation at BFC Partners. Connor Kenny, I'm a partner with SAA EBI. So the department has requested uh an exemption shelter rent agreement from the common council looking to uh support the redevelopment of the first phase of Parkside Commons looking to develop two new buildings and uh renovate the existing property to the west. Uh we're looking for the typical 15-year shelter rent agreement. I've got my uh partners here on the development team who can talk a little more specifically about the details. Sure. Thank you, Matt Matthew, and thank you for everyone for making the time and agreeing to meet with us on this. Again, my name is Robert Sana. I'm with BFC Partners. Connor Kenny here is with SAEVI. Um our companies are joint ventured and uh acquired Parkside Commons in October of uh 2024. Um we have a brief presentation today about um uh go back. Can you go back to the agenda? So we have a brief presentation for you here. We'll talk about us, who we are, um what's what's happening on the site and what we've done so far, and then we'll move into our well we'll move to talk about the project and what we plan to do. We'll cover both the renovation, the tenant relocation aspects, and the new construction components, and then we'll end with the residents at residents and community engagement that we've done so far that we plan to do as we as we continue to the project. So can you go to the next slide? So just to introduce uh my ourselves, BFC partners, uh we're a New York City-based affordable housing developer and general contractor. We've been in business for 40 years. We've done about 20,000 units of new construction renovated housing. Uh we're experts in all things affordable housing. We provide we provide construction oversight, we provide guarantees, we provide equity capital, we do the community engagement. Um this we do many, many projects like this. In fact, we're wrapping up a conversion of a public housing authority project on Staten Island in New York. Very similar conditions, very similar parkside, um called West Brighton Houses. Um so we we know this fairly well, and we're looking forward to and making making a change at Parkside. Connor, you want to go? Hello, again, I'm Connor Kenny, a partner with SA EVI. Um so SAEVI, we were founded in Buffalo in 1977. Uh we've been developing affordable housing using the low-income housing tax credit program since the program was incepted in 1986. We did we actually did New York State's first low-come housing tax credit deal. Um we've done about 4500 units across uh 4500 affordable housing units across about seven or eight states. Um and like Rob's firm, we have uh a lot of experience working with Section 8 housing and rehabbing properties uh similar to Parkside. Um I think we all are many of us know the property itself has um historically had a number of issues. Um when we bought the property, there was quite a bit of deferred maintenance. Uh there are crime problems at the property. Um we just want to take some time to talk about the existing condition of the property and some of the things that we've done to this point. Um for example, uh coming in with all the deferred maintenance, the code violations, the work orders that were existing on the property. Um we've doubled the maintenance staff since the summertime from six to twelve, which was very needed. And as you can see in the summertime, there was uh quite a few open work orders. We had about 1200 open work orders, and as of today we're down to approximately 185 work orders. Uh 335 of those have been completed in the last seven days. Um part of the reason we're getting more effective. Seven days, I'm sorry. Yes. You completed in the last seven days. Yes. Work orders.
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