Healing a City Neighborhood | Rochester, New York

Decades ago, a Kodak heiress generously donated her home and toy collection, which became the Strong Museum of Play (Strong). As the museum flourished, it outgrew its original location and was relocated to just inside the Rochester Inner Loop. The new site, however, was pinned against an elevated expressway.

Every day, Rochester residents longed for the expressway to be demolished and downtown Rochester to be reconnected to adjacent historic neighborhoods. And then, one day, the city announced the Inner Loop East Transformation Project, reclaiming about six acres of land by replacing the expressway with an urban street. This initiative prompted the city to issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) for infill development proposals.

In response, Strong assembled a team consisting of Konar Properties, Indus Hospitality, CJS Architects, and UDA as the master planning and design lead. The team’s plan called for transforming the isolated museum into the “Neighborhood of Play.” The vision utilized the reclaimed inner loop sites and surface parking lots for infill development that would stitch downtown and the Park Avenue neighborhood back together. Elements of the plan included a new hotel, a main street, a public plaza, apartments, restaurants, retail, a parking garage, and pedestrian and bike facilities, along with a major museum expansion featuring a new entry hall, restaurant, museum store, and the World Video Hall of Fame. 

The development team won the RFP and Strong was subsequently awarded $20 million to support its expansion. By 2023, the Neighborhood of Play was completed. It is now regarded as a model for cities that have been damaged by freeways.