While the City of Rochester still hopes for a major development at the former Midtown Plaza Parcel 5 site, it will use the land for now as a downtown greenspace similar to the city’s model, “KC Live” in Kansas City.
Mayor Lovely Warren said in a news conference Thursday that the site will be called “Meet Me At The 5.” It will be landscaped from a gravel lot into open, grassy spaces with amenities for a bargain budget of $250,000. The mayor hopes people who live and work in the surrounding buildings will come down, eat lunch there and enjoy activities managed by the Riverside Convention Center.
The Convention Center and Rochester Downtown Development Corporation are partners in the plan.
Warren says the city wanted to do this a year ago, but was forced to hold off by the pandemic. Now she says there are signs of recovery, including city parking garages going from 20 percent occupancy at the worst of COVID-19 back up to 40 percent. She says downtown is coming back from the pandemic and this development will help.
The City expects to have Parcel 5 open as early as next month.