SYRACUSE — A partner in the Salina 1st project the effort is now working on an updated schedule prompted by all the recent interest-rate increases. The Salina 1st project site is located south of downtown Syracuse at 1081 S. Salina St., across from the JMA Wireless campus. Salina 1st describes itself as Syracuse’s first minority […]
SYRACUSE — A partner in the Salina 1st project the effort is now working on an updated schedule prompted by all the recent interest-rate increases.
The Salina 1st project site is located south of downtown Syracuse at 1081 S. Salina St., across from the JMA Wireless campus. Salina 1st describes itself as Syracuse’s first minority and woman-led commercial development.
In an Aug. 29 phone interview, Gail Montplaisir tells CNYBJ she updated the schedule a day earlier on Aug. 28. Project completion is still targeted for late 2024.
“With the interest rate [hikes] that started in 2022 and just kind of kept going up … I think they were a real challenge for us as well as most other developers,” says Montplaisir.
Montplaisir is president of the Washington, D.C.–based Taurus Development Group and a partner in the project.
Even a half a point increase in rates creates another “$200,000 gap,” meaning the partners have been working with supporters in raising more funding, bringing more sources and more capital in, and “getting all of our loans lined up,” she says.
“We’re in a really good place now, and we’re very very excited about it,” Montplaisir adds.
As she explains it, site work was scheduled to continue around the middle of September with some foundation drilling work set for October. Additional footings and foundations work is set for November and December.
“We anticipate actually starting to do the vertical construction probably around Jan. 15 or so, maybe the beginning of February,” she notes.
Besides Montplaisir, Emanuel Henderson of JHP Industrial Supply Co., and Eli Smith of E. Smith Contractors are spearheading the Salina 1st project.
The partners 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.
JF Real Estate partnership
Salina 1st on June 20 said JF Real Estate of Syracuse would serve as its commercial broker to help with leasing the property’s commercial real estate.
Salina 1st signed a one-year agreement with JF Real Estate to spread the word about the project both within the community and to potential tenants as the project gets closer to vertical construction, Montplaisir tells CNYBJ.
JF Real Estate is communicating with Black real-estate agents throughout the community who’ve been very supportive of the project and attended a lot of real-estate networking receptions.
“If people don’t really know that the project is there, it makes it a little bit difficult, obviously, to find good, long-term tenants. They’re working within the community as well as all of their own sources to bring in new people,” says Montplaisir.
JF Real Estate is a real-estate brokerage company that provides services such as brokerage, development, tenant and owner representation, site selection, space planning, architecture, design, construction, financing, and building management. The company currently exclusively represents about 3 million square feet of commercial space and over 175 apartments, all in the greater Syracuse area.
“We look forward to working with the Salina 1st team,” Matt Funiciello and Tom Schneider, representatives with JF Real Estate, said in a news release. “We anticipate transformative, inclusive growth in the city’s Southside, and we are embracing the opportunity to find commercial tenants to finalize the development of Salina 1st.”
Commercial tenants that have committed to occupying the property so far include JHP Industrial Supply Company, Inc., Ebonomy, SGTR, and E. Smith Contractors.