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SYRACUSE - CenterState CEO, the area's major business and economic-development group, says it will relocate to the Pike Block project in downtown Syracuse by late summer.
The group, which has more than 2,000 members, is currently housed at the former Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce building at 572 S. Salina St. The chamber and the Metropolitan Development Association of Syracuse and Central New York (MDA) merged to form CenterState CEO in 2010.
"We've been contemplating the possibility of relocating since we merged the two organizations," CenterState CEO President Robert Simpson says. "We knew that we had more space than we needed in that building. It's been on our radar screen."
The 130,000-square-foot Pike Block project involves four adjacent structures: the Chamberlin Building, Witherill Building, Wilson Building, and Bond Building. The $25 million development is located at the corner of South Salina and West Fayette streets.
VIP Development Associates, the development arm of VIP Structures of Syracuse, is Pike Block's developer. The company is transforming the buildings into a combination of apartments, offices, and ground-floor retail space. Work began in 2011.
CenterState CEO was able to start working more aggressively toward a move when it started seeing interest in the former chamber building. The group spoke with several interested buyers and the South Salina Street building is now under contract for sale, Simpson says.
The organization hasn't...