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The city of Syracuse will receive a $50 million federal grant toward redeveloping the 15th Ward when the Interstate 81 viaduct is torn down, Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer announced Friday. The grant will support a $1.1 billion project to rebuild the historically Black neighborhood and mitigate harms caused by the viaduct.

Syracuse was one of six cities across the country to receive the funding from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Choice Neighborhoods program — which aims to support revitalization efforts in neighborhoods with “distressed” public housing, the program’s website states.

The viaduct, a 1.4-mile section of I-81, runs directly through the 15th Ward and physically segregates the city. When it was built in the 1950s and 1960s, it displaced more than 1,300 Black families in the neighborhood, concentrating poverty and pollution in the area. Black and Hispanic Syracuse residents have the highest rates of extreme poverty out of the United States’ 100 largest metropolitan areas, according to syracuse.com.

The goal of redeveloping the neighborhood is to help uplift residents of the 15th Ward out of poverty, syracuse.com reported. The plan will construct a “large, multi-generational, mixed-income community with affordable, modern, accessible, high-quality, and energy-efficient housing,” according to a Friday press release.

“Today the federal government is stepping up to right that historical urban planning wrong and lay the foundation for reconnecting the community’s future,” Schumer said in the release. “This community-led plan to redevelop the housing in the shadow of I-81 will help build a brighter, more equitable future for all Syracuse area residents.”

The grant will also be used to demolish some “distressed” public housing units in the Pioneer Homes and McKinney Manor complexes and replace an estimated 672 units with new construction, according to the release.

The two public housing complexes are the oldest in New York state, according to syracuse.com, and do not meet health and safety standards related to asbestos, lead and more. As of 2022, Black children in the city of Syracuse had “the highest rates of lead poisoning in the nation,” according to Spectrum News.

All current residents of the public housing complexes will have “first priority” to return to newly-built apartments once construction is complete, Friday’s release states.

The city will work with the Syracuse Housing Authority and other outside partners to conduct the public housing improvements, according to the release.

Other visions of the redevelopment plan include a stadium for high school sports, concerts and exercise, a health center and 118 acres of urban parks and gardens in an area that spans 27 blocks, according to syracuse.com, along with a fruit tree forest and free or low-cost Wi-Fi services. Friday’s release states that the federal grant will also go towards “placemaking efforts” to celebrate the 15th Ward’s legacy, including a new museum.

Plans also include a Children Rising Center— an early learning and childcare center with space for 112 children — as well as a YMCA, both to be constructed in a two-story building at South State and East Taylor streets. Earlier this week, the city was awarded $6.7 million from the federal government for its construction. Schumer and Gillibrand are working to push for further funding for the YMCA and Children Rising Center, according to Friday’s release.

“I’m proud to have fought for years to secure this grant that will bring new life to the East Adams neighborhood and the surrounding communities, and I will keep fighting for a more equitable Syracuse,” Gillibrand said in the release.

The 15th Ward redevelopment efforts coincide with the $2.25 billion project to tear down the I-81 viaduct, the release states. The viaduct is set to be replaced with a community grid — a street-level boulevard including roundabouts, more green space next to Dr. King Elementary school and a pedestrian-friendly rebuild of Almond Street, according to the New York State Department of Transportation.

The state is scheduled to demolish the viaduct beginning in 2026 and ending in 2028. There was an official groundbreaking ceremony last July.

Published on July 12, 2024 at 7:59 pm

Contact Ahna: arflemin@syr.edu