Syracuse lawmakers approve moving police, fire headquarters out of downtown

Syracuse, N.Y. — Syracuse’s police and fire departments will be moving out of downtown to new headquarters on the city’s west side.

The Syracuse Common Council on Monday unanimously approved Mayor Ben Walsh’s proposal to lease a privately owned vacant factory at 1153 W. Fayette St. that the owner will convert into the city’s new public safety building.

The 19-year lease with developer Joe Gehm, of the Lahinch Group, is expected to start in the second half of 2025, when an estimated $25 million to $30 million renovation project should be completed.

The city has been searching for several years for a new home for its public safety departments largely because of the deteriorating state of its existing downtown headquarters at 511 S. State St., where the departments have operated since the 1960s. The city has jointly owned that building with Onondaga County but pays the county to maintain it. This year’s payment will be about $1.7 million.

That’s slightly less than the $1.8 million for the city’s first year of rent under the deal councilors approved. Payments over 19 years would total about $41.2 million, which is about the same cost estimated if the city were to pursue a renovation of the existing public safety building, Walsh administration officials told the council at a committee meeting earlier this month.

The empty factory, built in the 1920s to manufacture automotive and railway parts, will provide more than 100,000 square feet of space. The site also will allow the police department to bring its patrol division to same campus as the rest of the department. That division has operated out of property the city owns on Erie Boulevard East.

The city hopes to work with the county on a plan to sell at least its share of the downtown building. It also will eventually sell the Erie Boulevard property.

The developer, Gehm, originally pitched the West Fayette Street site as office space for staff who were in the City Hall Commons building downtown. The city opted for a different location downtown for that space, that process opened up talks with Gehm about making the West Fayette Street factory into the future public safety building.

The city has committed to helping Gehm secure at least $2 million in state and federal grants for the project. A Restore New York grant worth $600,000 is already secured. The final rental rate would go up or down depending on how much grant funding is secured.

In other news:

• Council approved Walsh’s request to establish the Syracuse Housing Trust Fund Corp., a public authority that will raise funds and issue grants and loans to housing development projects. City officials view the trust as a key part of its strategic efforts to tackle housing market challenges. The trust’s seven-member board is expected to be formed in January.
• Council approved four grants with local nonprofit organizations to hire more “credible messengers,” who are city residents who are tasked with building relationships in neighborhoods that have been prone to violent crime so they can serve as peacekeepers. The funds come from a $1.5 million grant the city Office to Prevent Gun Violence secured in late 2022.

City reporter Jeremy Boyer can be reached at jboyer@syracuse.com, (315) 657-5673, Twitter or Facebook.