SYRACUSE — Officials have broken ground on a mixed-use development project called Salina 1st LLC, which is located at 1081 South Salina St., south of downtown Syracuse. More specifically, it’s located near the corner of South Salina Street and Burt Street. The project will include new mixed income residential units and commercial space, including light […]
SYRACUSE — Officials have broken ground on a mixed-use development project called Salina 1st LLC, which is located at 1081 South Salina St., south of downtown Syracuse.
More specifically, it’s located near the corner of South Salina Street and Burt Street. The project will include new mixed income residential units and commercial space, including light manufacturing, office, and retail space.
The property where crews will build the facility is a brownfield area, which will be mitigated to make way for the project, Empire State Development (ESD) announced in a May 22 news release. A brownfield is a property with environmental contamination.
The venture will include the development of close to 52,000 square feet of manufacturing, retail, office, and residential space. The total project cost is close to $6.8 million. ESD expects that crews will complete the project in the second quarter of 2021.
ESD is assisting the effort through a $1.3 million capital grant recommended by the Central New York Regional Economic Development Council.
The development team is made up of Emanuel Henderson, owner of JHP Industrial Supply Co. of Syracuse; Eli Smith, owner of E Smith Contractors of Syracuse; and Gail Montplaisir, majority owner of Washington, D.C.–based Taurus Development Group, ESD said.
In addition to the developers who will occupy some of the leasable space, the project will also include a new dental laboratory and incubator space, the agency added.
“This project shows the commitment of our team to invest in our community and supports our vision is to help build prosperity for all community members. Our children deserve to grow up in beautiful, livable and healthy neighborhoods. We are confident that this project will breathe new life into the Southside community,” Gail Montplaisir, majority owner of Taurus Development Group, said in the ESD release.
How developers met
Smith and Montplaisir met at the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Program at Babson College in Boston. “They bonded,” as both had backgrounds in construction and related fields, per a May 8 news release about the project. The release didn’t indicate when the Goldman Sachs event took place.
Smith eventually opened an office in Washington, D.C. and Montplaisir opened an office in Syracuse.
Later, Smith, Emanuel Henderson, and Darin Price traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D–N.Y.) about contracting opportunities and programs necessary to support small businesses. The group also met with Montplaisir. Price is COO of Right Price Companies, located at 4726 S. Salina St. in Syracuse.
After their meeting, Smith, Henderson, and Montplaisir decided to move forward together to create Salina 1st. The name is “intentional; it is time for Salina, South Salina, to be specific, to be 1st on the agenda. And now it is,” they contend.
