The Sibley Building in downtown Rochester could become a new downtown mall and gathering place just like Midtown Plaza was, but on a smaller scale. In order for this to happen, though, according to Rochester Downtown Development President Heidi Zimmer-Meyer, it would need an anchor. The MCC Damon Campus could be this, but so could other things, should that move — and there need to be things on other downtown sites as well.
A new downtown campus of Bryant and Stratton College would have been nice, instead of moving within Greece, and could have consolidated the Henrietta campus (and could have been on property rolls if built on the Midtown site). As well, a downtown campus of Empire State College could and should rent a site in downtown already on the tax rolls, instead of a new campus in Brighton.
However, there should be an additional Seneca casino in the High Falls District, rather than near Rochester Technology Park in Gates. Also, there could be two other amenities that should come to downtown Rochester or the suburbs. Namely, a new home for the National Soccer Hall of Fame of U.S. Soccer, which closed its doors in Oneonta in 2010 — its contents scattered across the nation and archives in Eurosport USA in North Carolina — as well as a new permanent home for the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame of the Women’s Sports Foundation, which lost what was to be its permanent home in the Sports Museum of America in Manhattan.
After all, all of our soccer teams are well supported; we are called “Soccertown USA;” County Executive Maggie Brooks has called us “a prime market for women’s sports;” and we are a regular stop for the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team, Mia Hamm and Abby Wambach both scoring their 100th career goals while playing for the team in our city. The induction ceremony and game for the soccer hall could also be held in our city, and Eurosport USA could also be given incentives to move to our area.
Alternative sites for the two halls and Eurosport could be the Medley Center site in Irondequoit, which could be demolished; or the site of the Monroe County Fairgrounds in Henrietta, where the Dome Center and Minett Hall, which are for sale, could be remodeled; or around the Rochester Tech Park in Gates. If the halls of fame are in downtown, then there could be a new Sahlen’s Stadium on the Midtown site, with more centralized parking, mainly in the underground garage there — or there could also be a new Sahlen’s Stadium on the Medley and Rochester Tech Park sites with centralized parking. Any stadium on the current fairgrounds site would have to be only for hall of fame games, similar to the former stadium at the former soccer hall of fame site in Oneonta. The Monroe County Fairgrounds could move to around the Rochester Tech Park on the Gates-Ogden border, where the fair could be close to both the technology of the park, the sports community, and the agricultural community. The Dome and Minett Hall and/or the Sports Center at MCC could be taken over by Terry Pegula, owner of the Buffalo Sabres and Rochester Americans, who could make either the Brighton or Henrietta facilities like what he is planning across the street from the Sabres’ arena in Buffalo.
The Sibley Building in downtown Rochester could become a new downtown mall and gathering place just like Midtown Plaza was, but on a smaller scale. In order for this to happen, though, according to Rochester Downtown Development President Heidi Zimmer-Meyer, it would need an anchor. The MCC Damon Campus could be this, but so could other things, should that move — and there need to be things on other downtown sites as well.
A new downtown campus of Bryant and Stratton College would have been nice, instead of moving within Greece, and could have consolidated the Henrietta campus (and could have been on property rolls if built on the Midtown site). As well, a downtown campus of Empire State College could and should rent a site in downtown already on the tax rolls, instead of a new campus in Brighton.
However, there should be an additional Seneca casino in the High Falls District, rather than near Rochester Technology Park in Gates. Also, there could be two other amenities that should come to downtown Rochester or the suburbs. Namely, a new home for the National Soccer Hall of Fame of U.S. Soccer, which closed its doors in Oneonta in 2010 — its contents scattered across the nation and archives in Eurosport USA in North Carolina — as well as a new permanent home for the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame of the Women’s Sports Foundation, which lost what was to be its permanent home in the Sports Museum of America in Manhattan.
After all, all of our soccer teams are well supported; we are called “Soccertown USA;” County Executive Maggie Brooks has called us “a prime market for women’s sports;” and we are a regular stop for the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team, Mia Hamm and Abby Wambach both scoring their 100th career goals while playing for the team in our city. The induction ceremony and game for the soccer hall could also be held in our city, and Eurosport USA could also be given incentives to move to our area.
Alternative sites for the two halls and Eurosport could be the Medley Center site in Irondequoit, which could be demolished; or the site of the Monroe County Fairgrounds in Henrietta, where the Dome Center and Minett Hall, which are for sale, could be remodeled; or around the Rochester Tech Park in Gates. If the halls of fame are in downtown, then there could be a new Sahlen’s Stadium on the Midtown site, with more centralized parking, mainly in the underground garage there — or there could also be a new Sahlen’s Stadium on the Medley and Rochester Tech Park sites with centralized parking. Any stadium on the current fairgrounds site would have to be only for hall of fame games, similar to the former stadium at the former soccer hall of fame site in Oneonta. The Monroe County Fairgrounds could move to around the Rochester Tech Park on the Gates-Ogden border, where the fair could be close to both the technology of the park, the sports community, and the agricultural community. The Dome and Minett Hall and/or the Sports Center at MCC could be taken over by Terry Pegula, owner of the Buffalo Sabres and Rochester Americans, who could make either the Brighton or Henrietta facilities like what he is planning across the street from the Sabres’ arena in Buffalo.
After all, the halls of fame for boxing, wrestling, baseball, basketball, volleyball, harness racing, ice hockey, football, Little League baseball and softball, weightlifting, and lacrosse are all within driving distance from here. The existing Sahlen’s Stadium, could, perhaps, be remodeled into a softball stadium for a franchise of the National Pro Fastpitch women’s pro softball league. Failing that, Dwyer Stadium in Batavia or Webster Yankees Stadium in Webster could be sites for this, should either the Batavia Muckdogs or Webster Yankees fold. None of these ideas should happen with taxpayer dollars, except, perhaps, regional council funding.
Kevin F. Yost is a Henrietta resident.
