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Laurence Glazer has already begun work on filling his downtown properties.
The CEO and managing partner of Rochester-based Buckingham Properties LLC said this week that he and others are in talks with a national business and a retailer that could bring each to the Midtown site Glazer is co-developing.
Over the past two years, Glazer has become involved in projects in the city totaling some $134 million, with more than 600,000 square feet of office and retail space available, as well as over 400 residential units.
The latest is the former Bausch & Lomb Inc. headquarters downtown, which a Glazer-led group of local developers purchased last week for some $15 million.
The financing for the array of projects has come from a combination of owner equity, bank loans and, in the case of the Midtown project, grants.
Glazer acknowledges that getting financing for such projects is a challenge, noting that bankers can be more leery of lending money for projects in areas where there is not a great amount of activity. Constant communication with the banks is crucial, he said.
"We need to show them if we build it, they will come," he said.
Glazer believes Rochester's downtown has the potential to pop.
"I fully expect (the area) to be the new epicenter of the city," he said. "I expect it to be a very vibrant area."
Over the past year his downtown deals include:
* The 460,000-square-foot Bausch & Lomb building, which he bought with David Flaum of Flaum...