Jennifer Williams and her five children live in McKinney Manor, a public housing complex in Syracuse. She’s heard a revitalization project will eventually move the complex’s residents out. Williams doesn’t know when that will happen.

Blueprint 15, a nonprofit organization, aims to tear down McKinney Manor and two other housing projects in its plan to revive the East Adams Street neighborhood. Pioneer Homes and Central Village, located downtown, would also be demolished.

“I hate that we have to move,” Williams said. “With them moving everybody out of here, that’s going to be hectic.”

The East Adams Street neighborhood is a portion of the former 15th Ward, a predominantly black neighborhood destroyed in the mid-20th century by the construction of Interstate 81. Blueprint 15, whose name references the ward, plans to revive the area by constructing mixed-income housing, providing high-quality educational institutions and implementing health and wellness amenities, said Vincent Love, CEO of Blueprint 15. 

“Residents are going to have a tremendous say-so in what happens to this neighborhood, how it happens and how it ends up looking so that it can best serve their needs,” said Love, who grew up in Pioneer Homes.

The 27-square block neighborhood currently has 1,060 public housing units, according to Blueprint 15’s request for proposals. More than 4,000 people live in the public housing complexes, according to Syracuse.com. 

While the project will cause some temporary disruption to individuals’ daily lives, Love said it will also create opportunities for residents to improve their lives. About a third of city residents live below the poverty line, according to census data. The project is about breaking the cycle of poverty, Love said. 

Blueprint 15, which works in partnership with the Syracuse Housing Authority, the city and the Syracuse City School District, follows a three-pronged revitalization model created by Purpose Built Communities, an Atlanta-based nonprofit.

The project will create a “cradle to college pipeline” with schools that help provide services to families and children living in the neighborhood, Love said. The project involves health care and recreational facilities as part of its community wellness component, he said. 

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SHA and Blueprint 15 selected McCormack Baron Salazar on Wednesday to be the project’s master developer, according to Syracuse.com. Blueprint 15 filed a request for proposals in November 2018. The proposal requires prospective applicants to demonstrate the ability to implement a redevelopment plan for East Adams Street neighborhood and surrounding areas. 

Selecting a master developer allows the project to work on its master plan, said Stephanie Pasquale, commissioner of the city’s Department of Neighborhood and Business Development. Pasquale also serves as a member of Blueprint 15’s board. 

Blueprint 15’s project could cost about $500 million, said Bill Simmons, executive director of the SHA. Section 8 housing vouchers will be provided to residents affected by construction.

“That area in the footprint is a great neighborhood for mixed-income housing,” Simmons said. “It’s so close to University Hill, where the vast majority of the city jobs are.” 

SHA formed its own plan to revitalize housing in the East Adams Street neighborhood about five years ago, Simmons said. The Blueprint 15 plan, with its education and wellness elements, treats residents holistically and provides them with greater chances of success, he said.  

At the same time that Blueprint 15 is planning its revitalization of the East Adams Street neighborhood, New York state is working on a potential replacement of Syracuse’s aging I-81 viaduct. Both SHA’s previous planning and the current I-81 discussions made it the right time to implement a plan to transform the East Adams Street neighborhood and its public housing developments, Love said. 

The New York State Department of Transportation published its Draft Environmental Impact Statement in April. The draft statement recommended a community grid option, which would tear down the existing viaduct and redirect traffic onto city streets.

A final decision regarding the I-81 viaduct’s replacement is expected to be released in 2020. The Blueprint 15 project is moving forward regardless of the state’s final I-81 decision, Love said. The project will likely start as far away from I-81 as possible in hopes of reaching the I-81 project area once timelines for the viaduct’s replacement are in place, he said.

For now, Love said his job is to disperse correct information to alleviate the fears and anxieties residents may have about the project. People only have the history of I-81 and its resulting displacement to reference, he said. Residents are afraid of gentrification and further displacement. 

“Our focus for Blueprint 15 is about the people that live there,” Love said. “Housing is a part of it, education is a part of it, community wellness is a part of it, but the basis of everything that we’re gonna do is gonna be about helping people improve their lives.”

Published on October 6, 2019 at 8:37 pm

Contact Emma: esfolts@syr.edu