Syracuse University will construct a student housing building at 401 Comstock Ave. on the corner of East Adams Street behind Haven Hall. The building will be erected by a private developer, who the university will lease the land to.

The building will consist of four floors of apartments with a partial fifth floor along Comstock Avenue, university spokesman Kevin Morrow wrote in an e-mail.The 226-bed facility will contain a fitness room, multi-purpose recreation room, office and courtyard, he said.

The universitydoes not know the cost of constructing the facility at this time, Morrow said, but SU will not pay to have the building constructed.

Syracuse Common Council member Pat Hogan said the project will cost $14 million for the developer, with students paying $850 per month to lease an apartment.

The university will provide a ground lease to Wilsu, a subsidiary company of Wilmorite, created for the purpose of developing this specific project, Morrow said. Wilsu will build, own and operate the facility, independent ofthe university.

The university would receive 25 percent of Wilsu’s revenue, gaining approximately $100,000 a year, Hogan said.

SU began discussing the possibility of building apartment-style housing on the Comstock site with Wilmorite, a commercial real estate development and management company out of Rochester, N.Y., in summer 2006, Morrow said.

The student housing will be very similar to the University Village apartments currently in construction on South Campus’ East Colvin Street, said Chuck Bucci, assistant director for new construction in the Office of Campus, Planning, Design and Construction, in an e-mail.

The developer spoke to The Syracuse Common Council to see if SU would be eligible for a PILOT agreement, which would exempt SU from taxes on the property. Wilsu will still pay taxes determined by the city.

Typically, a city will agree to a PILOT agreement if the project in question would benefit the community in some way – either by creating jobs or bringing more business and traffic to the city, Hogan said. But this project is simply student housing, he said.

‘This doesn’t benefit the city one bit,’ Hogan said. ‘SU’s argument is if they built this dormitory, we would tax it. But if they built this property with the PILOT agreement, they’ll make money off it.’

But Eric Beattie, director of design and construction at SU, said the PILOT agreement is what the developer would need to make the project financially viable.

‘I would more appropriately characterize it that the developer would be getting some kind of tax relief,’ he said. ‘It’s been in the works for a while, and details are getting worked out. I would say we’re close, but I think it comes down to them finalizing an agreement with the city.’

The university and developer proposed that the PILOT agreement would be active for 48 years, though the council plans to compromise with the university and reduce the lease to a 20-year agreement, said Councilor Lance Denno.

Hogan and Denno said many universities and colleges these days are following the trend of leasing property to a developer to construct student housing – a way for a school not to have to develop, build or manage a property, but still make money off it.

‘I think SU has cast their net to see who would give them the most lucrative deal,’ Hogan said. ‘A lot of universities are going to private developers because it saves them money.’

Denno said he couldn’t confirm when the vote would take place but added that it will probably be discussed at a council meeting Wednesday and voted on at the April 27 meeting, barring any additional problems.

‘As far as I know, it seems likely to be approved,’ Denno said. ‘Until all the councilors have had a chance to update themselves on the aspects of the university and the developer, we can’t make a commitment.’

blbump@syr.edu

Published on April 15, 2009 at 12:00 pm