Distributive Property: property is currently for sale Now
- They had visions of a different kind of Westcott Street development. The property is currently for sale
Distributive Property
- Syracuse, New York — Three friends who grew up in the Westcott neighborhood are abandoning their plans to build a novel style of mixed-use residential and commercial development in the center of the neighborhood’s business district.
- This week, the owners of 534 Westcott St.
- listed the property for sale as part of their Westcott Remix project.
- The listing cost is one million dollars.
- In its most recent iteration, Westcott Remix was supposed to consist of a three-story structure with ground-floor commercial space (retail or restaurant) and upper stories of mixed-income apartments.
- It would take the place of the older structure and land that Dorian’s Pizza & Deli currently occupies. (Dorian’s is still the property’s tenant for the time being).
Distributive Property
- Damian Vallelonga, Brendan Rose, and Zach Bloomer, the partners in Westcott Remix, introduced the concept in 2018. In 2020, they paid $550,000 for the property, which they bought under the name Fastbreak Knights.
- The name was a reference to Dorian’s former establishment, Fastbreak Deli, which they used to frequent while attending Nottingham High School.
- Despite their continued belief in the potential of their plan, the partners have not been able “to make the numbers work for us,” according to Vallelonga.
- They hope that by working on this project for the past six years, they will “inspire” a new developer to take on a similar project.
- “We find it extremely frustrating,” Vallelonga remarked.
- We are native to this neighborhood, so this was a very personal matter for us.
- We sincerely hope that something positive occurs here.
- At first, the Westcott Remix project had trouble meeting zoning regulations in the city.
- Additionally, there was some opposition from the neighborhood, mostly in relation to parking and the building’s size—it was originally intended to be four stories.
- Afterwards, the partners decided to only build three floors.
- They also placed their hopes in the city’s ReZone, or updated set of zoning and planning regulations.
- Approved in 2023, that plan included expedited clearances for mixed-use development.
- Vallelonga stated, “We had no problems with (zoning) variances after that.”
- However, he acknowledged that it is “a tough nut to crack” to put together a mixed-income project that isn’t targeted at the fully subsidized market or the luxury market.
- The property is presented in an optimistic light in the real estate listing, which also highlights its close proximity to hospitals and Syracuse University as well as the county’s “much-anticipated Micron chip factory.”
- According to the listing, “the Westcott Remix project laid much of the groundwork for this redevelopment.”
- “Investors can build on the project’s existing framework or realize their own visions.”