Over the last [few] weeks, we have witnessed a remarkable series of announcements relating to downtown Syracuse that many would have thought unimaginable just a few short years ago.
Arcadis, Aspen Dental, Terakeet, and TCGPlayer.com have collectively announced plans to locate more than 1,500 employees in our central business district. These companies represent some of our region’s strongest sectors (engineering, professional services, and IT) and fastest- growing businesses.
Arcadis plans to move its offices and more than 250 employees to downtown’s One Lincoln Center building.
Aspen Dental plans to bring 600 employees, and create 400 more jobs, when it moves to downtown’s planned City Center project at the former Sibley’s Department Store.
Terakeet has plans to add 200 jobs to its current workforce of 150 people.
TCGPlayer.com has grown its workforce from 69 to 115 in the past six months.
These companies are committing to staying and growing in Central New York, and will bring their diverse workforce of engineers, sales professionals, marketers, customer-service representatives, and executives into our rapidly evolving downtown.
These announcements compliment what has been nearly a decade of unprecedented residential development in our center city, recently highlighted at the 10th annual Downtown Living Tour. Residential occupancy downtown remains over 99 percent and the downtown census tract is the fastest growing of any in the five-county CNY region.
And, they come just weeks before we celebrate the long-anticipated re-opening of the Hotel Syracuse as the Marriott Syracuse Downtown — a project itself nearly 10 years in the making.
In talking with each of these expanding companies, downtown’s rebirth and vitality were central to their decision to stay and grow in Central New York. Now, they too will be contributing to and enhancing that growing vitality — bringing new spending into the city, creating new demand for restaurants and retailers, and offering our arts and cultural institutions like the Everson Museum and Landmark Theatre new patrons as well.
Success has many parents, as they say. And nowhere is that more true than with the remarkable story of the resurgence of downtown Syracuse. While our civic discourse may be fragmented, at times, the importance of our center city to our entire regional economy is something that has steadfastly brought stakeholders together for years — city and county leaders, the business community, institutional leadership, arts organizations, and the state.
Vision. Passion. Collaboration. And a long-term commitment. These have been the hallmarks of downtown’s remarkable 10-year transformation. They offer a telling insight in to how we might approach other major issues facing our community as well.
Robert M. (Rob) Simpson is president and CEO of CenterState CEO, the primary economic-development organization for Central New York. This editorial is drawn and edited from the “CEO Focus” email newsletter that the organization sent to members on June 3.