ICON Tower formally opens in former Excellus building

SYRACUSE, N.Y. —The Icon Tower, a mixed-use development at 344 South Warren St. in Syracuse, has formally opened.

Syracuse–based Icon Companies, Inc. and Icon Real Estate developed the structure.

The renovation project developed more than 200,000-square feet of office space into “market-rate” apartments, along with office and retail space, the office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a news release issued Thursday. The structure had been vacant “for nearly a decade.”

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Rochester–based Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, Central New York’s largest health insurer, had previously operated in the building until moving its Syracuse–area office to its current location in the town of DeWitt.

Empire State Development offered a performance-based grant of up to $2.315 million “in order to encourage this nearly $20 million project to move forward,” Cuomo’s office said.

Paradise Companies 2, the project’s developer, is a real-estate company that a group of investors formed “specifically” for the building’s acquisition and redevelopment.

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Crews converted the top eight floors of the 10-story building into 89 “market-rate” apartments “almost all of which have already been rented.”

The bottom two floors have commercial space. The first floor has retail and restaurant tenants and the second floor has office tenants, Cuomo’s office said.

The project complements the Central New York Rising initiative, the regional plan that includes a focus on “revitalizing” South Warren Street in downtown Syracuse.

“By transforming a vacant office building into a vibrant new development, this project supports the revitalization of downtown Syracuse, attracting new businesses and excitement to the area,” Cuomo contended in the release. “Our efforts to spur economic development in once-blighted areas are creating jobs, attracting residents back to downtown communities and supporting the growth and strength of Central New York for generations to come.”

“We would like to thank New York State and our local community for the tremendous support, and, for believing in our vision to transform this building. Without the collective efforts of all involved, a building with this type of positive impact right in the City’s core might not be possible,” Graziano Zazzara Jr., president of the Icon Companies and managing partner of the investment group, said in Cuomo’s news release.

 

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com

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Eric Reinhardt

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