Long-vacant Syracuse Office Building will get New Life and Honor Firefighters

Syracuse, N.Y. — The redevelopment of a long-vacant office building overlooking Firefighters Memorial Park is set to get under way soon.

Developer Grazi Zazzara Jr. told the Syracuse Industrial Development Agency last week that he is ready to begin work on the building at 444 E. Genesee St. as soon as the agency votes on his request for tax breaks for the $4.1 million project.

Zazzara said it will take about nine months to complete the building’s transformation.

He first announced his plans in January 2020 to turn the upper three floors of the building into a total of 24 one-bedroom apartments and retail space on the first floor.

Zazzara is requesting a mortgage tax exemption of $29,942, a sales tax exemption worth $151,400 on construction materials and a 15-year payment-in-lieu-of-tax agreement, the value of which will be determined after the project is reviewed by the city assessor, said Judy DeLaney, the agency’s executive director.

Built in 1960 on the southwest corner of East Genesee and South Townsend streets, the building has been vacant for about 25 years.

“It basically has been an eyesore across from Firefighter’s Park for that amount of time,” DeLaney said.

Zazzara plans to name the building Corbett Corner in honor of three generations of Syracuse firefighters in his family. He has said rents for the apartments will run about $1,000 a month.

The apartments will be restricted to tenants with incomes that do not exceed 80% the area median income, according to the developer’s application to the development agency.

Zazzara developed Icon Tower three blocks away on South Warren Street four years ago into 89 apartments, office and retail space.