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Dennis Payne remembers long lines in every store during Christmas time at the Shoppingtown Mall.
But as the years went on, Payne, chair of the DeWitt Advisory Conservation Commission, watched the local hotspot eventually crumble to a barren building surrounded by bare concrete and parking spots.

In early October, three companies — Redev CNY, Hueber-Breuer and Dalpos — held a public hearing to reimagine a design for the old Shoppingtown Mall, where they described plans for grassy, tree-filled spaces surrounding the former commercial hub.

At the hearing, Andy Breuer, president of the Syracuse Hueber-Breuer Construction company, said he hopes to build a community including apartments, parks, medical offices and retail stores. The companies’ shared goal, spokespeople said at the meeting, is to make the space accessible and active. If they receive a grant from Restore New York — an initiative that focuses on regenerating spaces in the community – which they applied for on Oct. 11 of this year, the companies will focus on sustainability in the reconstruction process, Breuer said.

Local environmentalists are already planning for potential sustainable options for the redevelopment. Payne had previously expressed to Breuer DACC’s overwhelming interest in becoming part of the construction process, and added that while the planning board has architects, there are environmentalists involved with DACC who can help with planning and sustainability.

Breuer wrote in an email to The Daily Orange that he aims to prioritize sustainability in the project.
Because the project is in its initial stages, Payne said he wants to join its planning board. He said DACC is waiting to hear back about revisions — which could enable DACC to officially implement sustainable construction measures — it sent to DeWitt’s sustainability plan.

“The town board is really busy, but we would like them to adopt changes. And then we would then have the ability to go to the planning board to say, ‘you need to implement this stuff’ when you make recommendations,” Payne said.

Sonia Kragh, treasurer of Climate Change Awareness and Action and DACC member from DeWitt, also has ideas for sustainable construction. She said she wants to see a solar energy approach for all of Shoppingtown’s electricity, whether it’s solar panels on the roofs of buildings or on the ground.

“I think that they could do this as a sustainable building project, if the town of DeWitt holds them to the fire to do it,” said Kragh.

Kragh said she’s excited for the potential of Shoppingtown and compared the project to the Township 5 project in Camillus, which has a shopping area, restaurants and musical events. Going into construction and development for Syracuse’s project, Kragh said she has hopes for a process 100% free of fossil fuels.

The Whitlock Building on Salina Street, which formerly ran on natural gas, now runs completely off of the same technology with no fossil fuels, said Peter Wirth, the vice president of CCAA and a member of DACC.

The Whitlock building, home to 26 residential apartments, has a similar capacity as the Shoppingtown Mall, he said.

“Any new construction at this point really should incorporate all electric heating and cooling. We need to get off the natural gas if we’re ever going to meet the goals set forth by the CLCPA,” Wirth said.

Because the project is still changing and will develop over the next 10 years, there aren’t currently any official sustainability plans, Payne said. He added that environmental groups have shown interest in becoming a part of the process of renewing Shoppingtown if the grant gets approved.

“They’re going to have to use the planning board a lot to help focus on this project, or however it goes,” Payne said. “But we want to be included in that too, because the planning board has a lot of people who are architects and who work in planning and development, but they don’t have environmentalists on the group. But we do.”

Published on November 29, 2022 at 11:56 pm