Construction begins on Salina 1st project, south of downtown Syracuse

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Construction is underway on the Salina 1st development project at 1081 S. Salina St., just south of downtown Syracuse.

The construction site is located across from the 5G manufacturing facility of JMA Wireless.

Project partners Emanuel Henderson, Eli Smith, and Gail Montplaisir describe Salina 1st as a “catalytic,” mixed-use, community-development project. The 52,000-square-foot facility will include residential, retail, light industrial, and incubator/shared-office space, per a project news release.

All three partners spoke during a special event Thursday morning to announce the start of construction on the project for which they broke ground in 2019. Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh; Deputy Mayor Sharon Owens, who served as master of ceremonies for the event; Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon; Robert Simpson, president and CEO of CenterState CEO; and Me’Shae Brooks-Rolling, executive director of the Upstate Minority Economic Alliance were among the local dignitaries who also spoke during the event.

Salina 1st is the first all-minority led commercial development in the history of Syracuse, per the release.

With an estimated investment of more than $10 million, the Salina 1st project seeks to “embrace, not displace” neighborhood residents and aims to “hire within the community.”

Spearheading the Salina 1st project are Emanuel Henderson of JHP Industrial Supply Co.; Eli Smith of E. Smith Contractors; and Gail Montplasir, a real-estate developer from Washington, D.C., working with Taurus Development Group.

It’s been “a long time coming,” Henderson said to begin his remarks.

“My vision for this project and why I invested in this project … it was simple. We needed to give back to this community,” he said.

Montplaisir and Smith graduated from the Goldman Sachs 10,000 small-businesses program together. In her remarks, Montplaisir said Smith invited her to Syracuse and during her initial visit, she met Henderson.

“But now, I feel like I’m really part of a community that is strong, is visionary, and is doing things that Syracuse has needed for a long time but didn’t have the overall support to do,” Montplaisir said. “Both of my partners have always worked for racial, financial, environmental, and energy equality and equity, and Salina 1st is the first step for all of us.”

Salina 1st will create renewable energy and is considered a net-zero energy project, meaning the amount of energy provided by on-site renewable-energy sources is equal or equivalent to the amount of energy used.

NYSERDA supported the Salina 1st project with a $1 million grant award through the Carbon Neutral Community Economic Development program.

Construction on the Salina 1st project is scheduled to be completed by 2024. Commercial tenants planning to move in upon completion include JHP Industrial Supply Company, Inc.; SGTR, a minority-owned construction company specializing in federal contracting; and E. Smith Contractors.