The City of Rochester’s proposed purchase of the former Skate Time 209 building will be presented to voters next week – Daily Freeman

CITY OF ROCHESTER, NY – Residents will vote next Tuesday, December 7, on whether the city should back up about $ 2.1 million for the purchase of the former Skate Time 209 rink to be used as municipal offices and area of Hobbies.

The vote will take place from noon to 9 p.m. at the Harold Lipton Community Center at 15 Tobacco Road in the hamlet of Accord.

The proposal calls on the city to buy the 6-acre property at 5164 Route 209 from Accordion Ventures, which bought the site from Skate Time operators Len and Terry Bernardo in June 2019 for $ 1.3 million.

Rochester supervisor Michael Baden said the current owner wanted to sell the property because he was unable to develop the site.

“The new owners bought it… [and] removed the skateboard park area, ”Baden said. “They continued to use the rink itself, but then the [COVID-19] the pandemic struck, and they’ve basically been closed… and haven’t been opened since. “

The building was constructed in 2005 and measures 30,200 square feet. The city’s tentative plan calls for converting the skatepark area to office space and having recreation in the rink area.

“It will be used for many aspects of recreation, including basketball, roller hockey, roller skating,” Baden said. “It will also add a large space that can be used for social events, provide us with a large meeting space and also give us the option of renting the space. “

Responding to residents’ concerns about the lack of information regarding the cost of renovating the building, Baden said: “To do this (provide an estimate) we had to spend a significant amount of money, we -22 situation.

He said the issue was put to a public vote, instead of being dealt with only by city council, because “we thought it was better for 5,300 voters to decide rather than five people.”

“The purchase is not just for a town hall,” Baden said. “It’s for a community recreation space, and the city council didn’t want to spend a lot of money doing a lot of analysis and [a] concept plan of construction if we did not go ahead with the purchase of the building.