SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Syracuse Deputy Mayor Sharon Owens says city officials and the developer still want to move forward with plans to redevelop the former Maria Regina College campus following the intense fire between Friday night and early Saturday evening.
The former Maria Regina campus at 1024 Court St. is a vacant, eight-acre property next to Grant Middle School. Work was set to begin this year to convert the former convent building and other campus buildings into quality affordable senior housing.
“We all are still committed to this project,” Owens said. “We’re still committed to the viability of this project and its impact on this neighborhood.”
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Officials are going to have to coordinate to evaluate what is left of the building so that they know “the best path forward,” the deputy mayor added.
Owens joined Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh and several other city officials late Monday morning on the former college campus to address reporters following the weekend fire.
In her remarks, Owens noted that the City of Syracuse is in touch with the current property owner, Granite Development Company of Syracuse; Rochester–based Home Leasing, the developer undertaking the project to create senior housing at the property; and New York State Homes and Community Renewal and all stakeholders to reevaluate the situation regarding the redevelopment effort.
That project involves 180 units, 26 of which were planned for the former convent, or the “Mother House,” Walsh said in addressing reporters.
“We are still in a position to put a lot of new units online,” Walsh said. “I think Home Leasing and the rest of the team need to evaluate how this is going to impact the scheduled closing, which is in June. We do anticipate some delay but again, we’re going to go to great efforts to keep this project on track and to get this property back into productive use.”
Home Leasing’s contractor — Hueber-Breuer Construction Co. Inc. of Syracuse — had installed new cameras on the property to try to keep people out, Walsh added.
“Home Leasing continues to be committed to this project. It’s a very important asset to the neighborhood, and we’re going to work closely with the City to figure out our next steps so we can continue down that path,” said Megan Houppert, CEO of Home Leasing, who joined City of Syracuse officials for the briefing.
Fire cause investigation
The investigation is ongoing into the cause of the intense fire at the former Maria Regina College. The Syracuse Fire Department (SFD) says it got the call early Friday evening March 21 and arrived to find heavy flames and smoke at the four-story red brick building, which has Convent of St. Anthony etched in concrete on the structure’s upper exterior.
Syracuse Fire Chief Michael Monds called the fire “one of the largest our department has faced in decades” and the department got the call as it was responding to another fire on Carbon Street.
“This was a major blow for the North Side and the city of Syracuse,” Walsh said, referring to the Maria Regina fire. “That said, this fire could’ve been much worse.”
The mayor described the property as a large complex with plenty of buildings, “but the Mother House was the crown jewel of this property.” He also noted that city officials are still evaluating the overall condition of the former convent building and demolition is still a possibility.
Syracuse Police Chief Joe Cecile said a few community members “believe they saw something suspicious occurring” prior to the start of the fire, and investigators have been interviewing those witnesses. They’ve also been reviewing camera footage.
“As you can imagine, there’s businesses in the area that have cameras, and we have a lot of Ring cameras on these [neighboring] residential properties,” Cecile told reporters.
The police chief went on to warn the public to stay off the property because trespassers will be charged with a crime, adding, “It’s not safe!”
Maria Regina College opened on Sept. 15, 1963 and was associated with the Sisters of the Third Order Franciscan, MC, per a Sept. 14, 2020 post on the Facebook page of the Onondaga Historical Association (OHA). Girls came from across the U.S. and overseas to attend the college. Maria Regina decided to close in August 1988 due to declining enrollment and financial difficulties, OHA said.
