SYRACUSE — VIP Development Associates, Inc. (VIPDA) has agreed to purchase the 22,000-square-foot building that houses the headquarters of CenterState Corporation for Economic Opportunity (CEO) at 572 S. Salina St. in downtown Syracuse. VIPDA is buying the building from Benefit Specialists of New York, Inc., an insurance agency that’s a wholly owned subsidiary of […]
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VIPDA is buying the building from Benefit Specialists of New York, Inc., an insurance agency that’s a wholly owned subsidiary of CenterState CEO, according to Frank Caliva, senior vice president and chief operating officer of CenterState CEO.
The purchase price is $1.4 million, according to Charles Wallace, president of VIP Development Associates.
VIPDA is in discussions with a local lender to finance the acquisition, according to Wallace. It has yet to close on the acquisition, says David Compton, director of sales and marketing at VIP Structures, the parent company of VIPDA.
VIPDA’s purchase of CenterState’s current home is being driven by where CenterState CEO is planning to move.
“It’s being triggered by the move of CenterState into Pike Block,” he says, noting it’s anticipated that CenterState will move in late September or early October. , VIPDA is the developer of Pike Block.
CenterState CEO, the area’s primary chamber of commerce and economic-development organization, plans to move into the Pike Block at 300 S. Salina St. as the anchor tenant.
CenterState, which has about 65 employees, has signed a lease for about 14,000 square feet of space on the second floor of the Witherell Building and the first and second floors of the Chamberlin building, according to VIPDA.
CenterState has yet to announce when it plans to vacate its current structure while renovation work continues on the buildings that comprise the Pike Block.
Since VIPDA started work on the Pike Block project, the firm kept its eye open for other opportunities along that stretch of South Salina Street with existing building owners to renovate or upgrade their structures into commercial, retail, or apartment-living space, Compton says.
“So we are familiar with just about every building owner in that three-block stretch,” Compton says.
CenterState CEO eventually approached VIPDA about a possible move into the Pike Block.
“It … worked to our advantage, so we worked out a deal for the building,” Compton says.
With the upcoming transition in ownership VIPDA is working to find new occupants for CenterState’s current location.
The local office of Piaker & Lyons, a Binghamton–based accounting firm that already operates an office in the building, plans to remain a tenant, Compton says.
“We are talking to another commercial-office tenant, and we’re also talking to a retail tenant that is interested,” Compton says.
The building is “very well structured” for commercial tenants, he adds. If the potential retail tenant agrees to sign a lease, “then it would require us to make over the ground floor to the point where it is more retail-oriented,” Compton says.
VIP would handle the site preparation, he adds.
VIPDA is the development arm of VIP Structures, a Syracuse–based design-build firm, which is located at One Webster’s Landing near Franklin Square.
VIP Structures also includes VIP Structures, Inc., which focuses on construction projects, and VIP Architectural Associates, according to the company’s website.
Additionally, VIPDA has been busy signing up tenants at the Pike Block. It has already signed leases with Tim Hortons Café and Bake Shop, Jimmy Johns Gourmet Sandwiches, and Pathfinder Bank, the firm said.
CenterState CEO decided it would seek options for a new, smaller headquarters at the time of the 2010 merger between the Metropolitan Development Association of Syracuse and Central New York, and the Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce, Caliva says.
“We see this as kind of the last major goal that was set for us by the new board of directors at the time we merged back in 2010,” Caliva says.
CenterState CEO is vacating its current building because it’s more space than the organization needs and a “greater expense,” according to Caliva.
Its new space in the Pike Block is just over half the size of its 22,000 square feet of space at 572 S. Salina St.
In addition, CenterState CEO also believed a developer could put the building to “better” use with different tenants. Caliva noted the structure is one of the few buildings in the downtown area with 55 spaces available for parking.
CenterState CEO had “seriously” explored eight or nine potential spaces in the downtown area before deciding to move to Pike Block.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com