Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Northgate Plaza

I live in Greece, NY - a north west suburb of Rochester. I actually live right on the border of the Charlotte neighborhood, which is actually the City of Rochester. I'm in about the oldest part of the town of Greece, and it many ways it shows. My street is actually pretty nice. The neighbors keep up their properties, and the "bad" properties of recent years have seen some very nice upgrades, so the street actually looks better than it did when we moved on. Now, unfortunately, the apartment complex on the corner of my street had a major fire a few weeks ago, so a big chunk of that building will likely be town down, so god only knows what's going to happen there.

My street is off another residential street, Denise, that intersects Dewey Avenue and Lake Avenue. It's the Dewey side that's troubling. The problem is, this strip is basically a commercial strip that had seen much better days. And a big problem is Northgate Plaza. Northgate, at one time, had stores like McCurdy's, Woolworths, and a mix of other small shops. Today, it has a Big Lots (with a sign that doesn't light up), and a few things that I do thoroughly enjoy... like the Hallmark Store, Tony's Birdland, and my bank is there too. In fact, since I've moved there, the Citizens Bank totally redid their space, and now it's a beautiful modern bank. But the rest of the plaza is really sad. There used to be a Video King Supercenter that we used all the time. That has now closed, and my wife and I have this running joke about a shopping cart that is in the window there that hasn't moved since they closed the store. The other end of the plaza has a bunch of empty stores, and a few stores that I just don't use. There is also what might be the slowest, 24-hour McDonald's, in the history of mankind. I've only been there once since I've lived there, but that one time was painfully slow.

There's a proposal on the table to tear down most of Northgate and put in a Walmart Supercenter. Now, it's a smaller version of most supercenters, but it's still planned to have a garden center, grocery store, and regular walmart component. Now, is this the greatest thing in the world? Of course not! In fact, I've only personally been to Walmart about a half dozen times in my life. But, the prospect of having a clean, well maintained plaza is attractive. The community is up in arms because they're afraid a Walmart here will bring in more traffic, crime, and lowered property values. I would argue that these people chose to live across from a commercial plaza, and you get what you pay for. And, there are some good barriers in place so that the plaza does not infringe on the residential neighborhoods. And, there are probably some ways to further close off the residential streets so that trucks and shoppers don't cut through, and I fully support that.

The other problem that opponents talk about is that they want to see a mix of smaller stores, and maybe some mixed use space, with residential as a component. Would I be thrilled if instead of a Walmart there was something that was a mix of, say, a Barnes & Noble, Camille's Sidewalk Cafe, Coldstone Creamery, Bath & Body Works, a small gardening store, and retention of the Hallmark Store, Radio Shack, Tony's Birdland, and Citizens Bank... as well as a new McDonald's building?! Of course! Is that going to happen? Do the demographics of the area - an older, working class neighborhood - support that kind of development?

If it does, then I'll run to the polls and vote for whomever can make that happen. But my guess is, that the area doesn't support that kind of development. Maybe it's an "if you build it, they will come" kind of thing, but that's the same kind of argument that public transportation advocates make for putting in a Rochester light rail system. I'd love to see something other than a Walmart, but I'm also a realist, and if no one is willing to invest in a property, other than Walmart, then that may be the only, or best, option.

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