Phase 3 of the East Adams Redevelopment Would Put 147 Apartments on Three Acres Downtown, With 64 Parking Spaces

The rebuilding of the 15th Ward neighborhood has reached its third phase, and the numbers on this one are worth sitting with.

The Onondaga County Planning Board reviewed the site plan on July 15 as case Z-26-174. The applicant is East Adams Redevelopment. The referring board is the City of Syracuse Planning Commission. The address is 927 South State Street, tax map parcel 095.-08-01.4.

The proposal is 147 mixed income dwelling units and two commercial spaces across five buildings on 3.123 acres, in a Neighborhood Center Mixed Use district, the city zoning designation written MX-2.

At the center of the site there is a 64 space parking lot.

That ratio, 147 homes to 64 spaces, is the single most revealing number in the filing, and it is not an oversight.

What is there now, and what replaces it

The site today is Chavez Terrace, a cul-de-sac surrounded by townhouse-style apartments belonging to the Syracuse Housing Authority, with frontage on South State Street and South Townsend Street.

The county describes the surrounding area as dense townhouse-style Housing Authority apartments on the eastern edge of downtown Syracuse. The adjacent parcels hold more apartment complexes, a fire station, the Oncenter and its parking garage, and an Upstate Medical University residence hall.

The replacement is five buildings: two apartment buildings and three attached townhouse buildings, holding 147 mixed income units. Per the site plan dated June 1, 2026, they sit along the perimeter of the site with the parking lot at the center. Outdoor play areas go between the buildings and the lot. A community patio goes between Buildings A and B.

Access changes direction. The existing cul-de-sac takes its driveway access from South State Street. Proposed access would come from South Townsend Street instead.

The two commercial spaces are described in the filing as being for offices and other future tenants.

The phases, in order

This is not a standalone project, and the county’s record of prior reviews shows the sequence.

Earlier referrals, filed as S-23-32 and Z-23-287, proposed subdividing three cul-de-sacs into new lots and constructing 133 mixed income units across six multi-unit buildings on the northernmost lot. The county notes that proposal is currently being constructed.

The three cul-de-sacs are named in the record: Angelou Terrace, Chavez Terrace and Latimer Terrace.

A third referral, S-24-43, divided a portion of the site into two new lots.

The board held No Position on all three of those earlier referrals, which is the county’s lightest possible action. It reviewed and declined to weigh in.

The project description dated May 29, 2026 places this phase in that arc. It calls the work an ongoing revitalization of the 15th Ward neighborhood and a continuation of the multi-phase East Adams Redevelopment initiative.

So the running total across the phases the county has seen is 133 units under construction and 147 more proposed here.

The parking number is the design

Sixty-four spaces for 147 units works out to roughly 0.44 spaces per home.

In a suburban subdivision that number would be a fatal defect. Here it is a deliberate choice, and the site explains why. This is the eastern edge of downtown Syracuse. The Oncenter parking garage is close enough that the project fell under county jurisdiction because of it. Upstate Medical University’s campus is adjacent. The site sits inside a mixed use zoning district written for walkable density.

The site plan supports that reading. It shows roadside sidewalks plus an internal sidewalk network connecting the buildings and the parking lot. Trees and shrubbery go along the road frontages, next to buildings and around the parking lot, including a planting island inside the lot itself.

Whether 0.44 spaces per unit is right for these particular residents is a fair question, and it is the question a neighbor should raise at a city planning commission hearing rather than a county one. The county did not object to it.

The amenities, and the standards being pursued

The filing lists an outdoor play area, a community room, a fitness center and electric vehicle charging stations.

It also names two building standards the project is aiming at. The filing states the project is anticipated to comply with Enterprise Green Communities criteria and to pursue Energy Star Multifamily New Construction certification, consistent with current New York State Homes and Community Renewal sustainability requirements.

Those are the sustainability standards attached to state affordable housing financing. Naming them in a site plan filing is a signal about how the project expects to be funded, and CNY Signal notes that the filing describes them as anticipated and pursued rather than achieved.

What the county did, and one thing it flagged

The board determined that the referral will have no significant adverse inter-community or county-wide implications and may consequently be acted on solely by the referring board. That is the cleanest outcome in county review. No modifications, no conditions.

The motion was made by Don Radke and seconded by Renee Dellas. The votes recorded were Marty Voss yes, Michael LaFlair yes, Renee Dellas yes and Don Radke yes.

The county got jurisdiction here for a specific reason worth explaining. Under General Municipal Law Section 239-m, a site plan gets referred to the county planning board when it sits within 500 feet of certain features, including county property. This site is within 500 feet of the Oncenter and the Oncenter parking garage, both county facilities. Without that proximity the city would have handled it alone.

One item in the staff report is a genuine observation rather than a formality. On stormwater, the county notes that infrastructure will be installed beneath the outdoor spaces and the parking lot and appears to connect to stormwater infrastructure along South Townsend Street.

Then it adds: the Environmental Assessment Form dated April 22, 2026 is for the whole project and does not address individual phases.

That means the environmental review the county had in front of it for Phase 3 was written at the level of the entire East Adams redevelopment. Whatever this specific three acres does to drainage, traffic and utilities is inside a larger document rather than assessed on its own.

Utilities and demolition

The development would connect to City of Syracuse drinking water. Wastewater would go to public sewers in the Metropolitan Wastewater Treatment Plant service area.

Two county advisories attach. The Department of Water Environment Protection requires capacity assurance because the use is changing, with the standard rule that unless anticipated sanitary flows can be shown not to exceed prior flows by more than one sewer unit, a one gallon to one gallon offset plan has to be developed with the municipal engineer.

The second is specific to a project that starts by tearing something down. Any demolition of buildings requires a permit for sewer disconnects, and the applicant must contact Plumbing Control to obtain them.

Because the project cumulatively disturbs more than an acre, it also needs coverage under the state SPDES stormwater permit before the city approves it.

What MX-2 allows, and why the label matters

The zoning district on this parcel is MX-2, Neighborhood Center Mixed Use, and the name describes the intent. Mixed use districts permit housing and commercial space in the same building and on the same lot, rather than separating them the way conventional suburban zoning does.

That is why two commercial spaces can sit inside a residential project without a variance, and why a 64 space lot is not automatically a defect. Districts written for walkable density set lower parking expectations than districts written around driving.

It also means the commercial spaces are not incidental. The filing describes them as intended for offices and other future tenants, which is a placeholder rather than a signed tenant. What eventually occupies them shapes whether the ground floor reads as a neighborhood center or as an empty storefront.

How a resident weighs in

Because the county cleared this without conditions, there is no further county step. The record is with the City of Syracuse Planning Commission.

Site plan review at the city level is where the specifics get argued: the parking count, the location of the play areas, the timing of demolition and construction, and how the South Townsend Street access functions once 147 households use it.

The county file is a useful preparation document for anyone planning to speak. It names every plan sheet by date, which means a resident can ask the city for the same drawings the county reviewed rather than relying on a rendering.

Why this one matters

Most of the development CNY Signal covers is suburban. A subdivision in Lysander, a warehouse in Clay, a rezone in Camillus. This is the opposite case: infill on three acres at the edge of downtown, replacing public housing built in a different era with mixed income housing at higher density and lower parking.

The scale is real. Between the phase under construction and the phase just reviewed, the county has seen plans for 280 units on this footprint.

The decision now belongs to the City of Syracuse Planning Commission, which is the referring board. The county’s July 15 minutes, including the full staff report described here, are posted by the Onondaga County Department of Planning.

The questions still open in the file are the ones worth following. Whether 64 spaces holds up in practice. Whether the phase-level environmental effects get examined separately or stay inside the project-wide assessment form. And whether the green building certifications the filing anticipates are actually achieved, which is a thing that can be checked later rather than argued about now.