A $56 million revitalization project in the community west of Armory Square isn’t expected to happen over night. In fact, the endeavor could take upward of five years.

But with a group effort and partnering of community organizations into the Near Westside Initiative, progress is being made every day since it started in September.

The nonprofit group is spearheaded by Syracuse University, which has contributed $13.8 million as part of a debt repayment to the city.

SU is creating a Syracuse Arts, Technology & Design Quarter in the impoverished community.

‘This initiative is a comprehensive neighborhood revitalization plan,’ said Marilyn Higgins, vice president for community engagement and economic impact at SU, and head of the nonprofit initiative board. ‘This area hasn’t seen any adjustments made in the last 50 years.’

The group is converting a strip of houses into the new center, Higgins said.

‘We have also been engaging the residents themselves into rebuilding their own community,’ she said. ‘This will be a community of residences and workspaces designed for artists, designers and innovators.’

According to a news release from the Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems, the goals of the home performance study being conducted are to understand energy use and Indoor Environmental Quality in homes and to identify the need for new technologies that reduce energy use and increase IEQ in the homes in the Near Westside.

Homeowners within the area who have already been approved for energy improvement grants from Home HeadQuarters, Inc. are automatically enrolled in the study, according to the release.

The Syracuse Center of Excellence is ‘using new technology involved in making green improvements to owner-occupied homes,’ Higgins said. ‘So far they have done 17 homes in the area, making them more energy-efficient.’

Neighborhood initiative grants of $2,500 are being offered by HHQ to owner-occupants to make energy improvements and $5,000 to Blodgett School neighborhood homeowners to make exterior improvements.

‘This Near Westside Initiative is about rebuilding and is programmatic in organizing the residents of the neighborhood to get involved as well,’ Higgins said.

HHQ has purchased 16 houses in the Blodgett School neighborhood and has plans to purchase more than 40, said Karen Schroeder, the marketing and resource development manager for HHQ and Syracuse Neighborhood Initiative.

‘Home HeadQuarters is also making exterior improvements to houses in the neighborhood, and they plan to build new houses adjacent to the two warehouses,’ Higgins said. ‘There are also plans to move WCNY to a newly constructed broadcast and education center built on a vacant lot in the neighborhood.’

And SU is developing the initiative into its class structure as well.

‘They (students) are learning the history of the Near Westside and learning design concepts to employ in the neighborhood there,’ Higgins said. ‘We also have an additional three classes taught in the School of Architecture. One deals with redesigning residential homes, one class is working on the neighborhood planning process and the other class is working on the warehouse redesign.’

Higgins said the university is pleased with the steps it’s taking in restoring the campus’ surrounding neighborhoods.

‘I think the chancellor’s efforts in this regard will put SU on the map,’ Higgins said. ‘There are a lot of other cities in the country looking at us and watching what we are doing. We are having to create a new economy structure here in Syracuse. If we do this right, other industrial commerce cities will use us as a model toward moving into a new form of growth.’

Rebuilding the outlying communities around SU’s campus could also have a positive effect on students.

‘Sometimes when I go to Armory Square with my friends, when we come back we have to go through these areas, and it’s not a representation at all of a campus life that I’m used to,’ said Karah Preiss, a freshman broadcast journalism major.

Preiss said the university’s role in economic development is important.

George Lambert, a custodian for SU North Zone for one year, said what the university does in the community is important.

‘Using the community nearby for an art district is a smart idea,’ Lambert said. ‘It helps rebuild the neighborhood and also brings business into the area where it is poor.’

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Published on March 14, 2008 at 12:00 pm